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1886. 



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NEW YORK TO THE ORIENT. 



A SERIES OF LETTERS WRITTEN DURING A BRIEF TRIP 
THROUGH EUROPE TO PALESTINE, RETURN- 
ING VIA EGYPT, ITALY, FRANCE, AND 
ENGLAND, 



WITH A 



DESCRIPTION OF THE WRITER'S EXPERIENCE ON THE 
STEAMSHIP OREGON AT THE TIME OF HER LOSS, 



J. M. 




OCT 29^188 



NEW YORK : 

E. R. PELTON & CO. 
1886. 



Copyright, i8S6, 
By J. M. EMERSOK 




H. J. HEWITT, PRINTER AND ELECTROTYPER, 
27 ROSE STREET, N. Y, 



PREFACE. 



mHESE letters were originally addressed 
to the readers of the Yonkers Gazette^ 
at the request of many of whom they now 
appear in book form. 

If that portion of the public whom they may 
chance to reach find them as worthy of ap- 
proval, and judge them as leniently as did 
those to whom they were originally addressed, 
the author will only feel that he has widened 
his circle of indulgent friends. 

J. M. E. 



New York, September, 1886. 



OO^^TEI^TS. 



LETTER I. 

Taking Passage for Earope— Less Risk in the Voyage than in the Daily 
Use of a Horse and Carriage — A Storm at Sea — Bad Cooking on Ocean 
Steamers — The City of London — Its Immensity — Old-Fogyism there — 
Large Addition to tlie Voting Classes, etc., etc 



LETTER 11. 

London to Paris — The Mann Bondoir-Cars— An Amusing Incident— Hotel 
la Grand de Russe— The College at Varna— Pluck and Bravery of the 
Bulgarians — Arrival at Constantinople — Turkish Baths there and in 
America— Stamboul and its Mosques — Wonderful Stories about them 
—The Call to Prayer— A Grand Bazaar— Other Points of Interest— A 
Visit to the Whirling Dervishes— The Turk Chronically Opposed to all 
Improvements— Interesting Anecdotes — Dearth of News 



LETTER III. 

Leaving Constantinople — Observing Thanksgiving Day — The Excellent 
Defences of Constantinople— Arrival at Smyrna — One of the Oldest 
Cities of the World— A Description Thereof— The Bazaar and Its 
Peculiarities— The Turk's Creed— Display of Brigands' Heads— The 
Island of Chios — The Eifect of Earthquakes— Samos, Patmos, and 
Rhodes — Then Direct for Cyprus — Beyrout — The American Presby- 
terian Mission there — Off for Baalbec by Diligence — An irrepressible 
Chicago Yankee — Ascending the Lebanon Mountains and on to Damas- 
cus — The Manufacture of Silk — The Ruins of Baalbec — Mt. Hermon 
in the Distance 



LETTER IV. 

The Earliest Records of Baalbec— Something about its Ruins— The 
Great Temple of the Sun, with a Description of its Ruins — Most 
of the Holy Places Mythical— A Mingling of Ancient and Modern 
Work— A Smaller Temple also Dedicated to the Sun— The Journey 

to Damascus Resumed 

vii 



viii 



Contents, 



LETTER V. 

PAGE 

Back to Shtora— By Diligence to Damascus— Its Famed Gardens— A Cool 
Reception, but a Fire and Good Dinner Warm us— The Oldest City 
in Palestine— Its Celebrated Blades and Silk Manufactures— All Labor- 
Saving Machinery Resisted— The Mosqjes— Head of John the Baptist, 
— The Great Bazaar— The "East Gate of the City" — House of Ananias 
— Paul's Prison— The Private Houses— Witnessing the Rite of Cir- 
cumcision — The House of Naaman — Massacre of 18G0— It was En- 
couraged by the Turkish Government— An Interesting Episode 59 



LETTER VL 

Jaffa, the Joppa of Scripture — The House of Simon, the Tanner — Off for 
Jerusalem— Something about Ramleh— The Church of the Nativity at 
Bethlehem, and the Christmas Celebration thereat ; the Legends con- 
nected therewith— The Plain of Bethlehem— The Field of Boaz— Jeru- 
salem, City of the Great King — What was Seen on a Tour through it 
—A Few Words about the American Consul 71 



LETTER VII. 

Further Descriptions in and about Jerusalem— Solomon's Temple- 
Mosque of Omar — The Holy Rock where Abraham Offered up Isaac 
—Mosque of El Aksa— Christ's Cradle— Church of the Sepulchre — War- 
ring Sects— The Hill of Calvary- -Other Sacred Spots and Relics— Re- 
markable Ruins — Church of St Ann — Pool of Bethesda — Tombs of 
the Kings— The Brook Kedron — Mount of Olives — Pool of Siloam and 
other Sacred Places— The German Colony— Back to Jaffa 80 



LETTER VIII. 

From Haifa to Nazareth— First View of the City— At the Latin Convent 
and Monastery — The House and Kitchen of the Virgin — Church of 
the Annunciation — A Lesson for Christians of Europe and America- 
Old Greek Church— The Well of Mary— Orphan Asylum for Girls- 
Back to the Dirty City— Among the Native Artisans— An Arab Wed- 
ding— Cana of Galilee— The New Church there ' 91 



LETTER IX. 

A Visit to Mount Carmel— The Cave of Elijah— Site of the Ancient City 
of Sycaminum— Rock Caves— Carmelite Monastery — The Mahkraka — 
Hill of the Priests— A Sacred Grove — A Legend Thereof— At the 
Druse Village of Dalieh— Some of their Customs— A Primitive Method 
of Divorce— Ruins of Thirty Cities in Mount Carmel — Honeycombed 
with Tombs, etc, 100 



Contents, 



ix 



LETTER X. 

PAGE 

Haifa and Acre— Delightful Winter Weather— Cheap Fruit- The Olive 
Crop — The Features of Haifa — Enterprise of its German Colony— 
Their Persecutions— Monumental Manure-Heaps— Acre, One of the 
Oldest Cities in the World — Besieged Seventeen Times— The Rivers 
Kishon and Belus —Discovery of Glass -Jezzar, the Butcher Pasha of 
Acre, etc., etc , , , 110 



LETTER XI. 

Leaving Haifa— Homeward Bound — Stopping on the Way— At Port Said 
— Poor Steamers and Worse Accommodations — Ismailia — An Old and 
Handsomely Laid Out Town— Cairo, the Largest City in Africa- 
Street Scenes— The Khedive's and Other OflScial Residences— The 
Pyramids of Gizeh — Road Leading Thereto— The Great Pyramid of 
Cheops— The Sphinx— Old Cairo— Church of St. Mar}^— The Most An- 
cient Mos(iue in Egypt — The Island of Rhodda— Its Nileometer— The 
Citadel— Superb Mosque— An Obelisk— Ostrich Farm— Chateau of 
Gezireh, etc. , etc , 121 



LETTER Xn. 

From Cairo to Alexandria— The Valley of the Nile— How the Land is Irri- 
gated—Different Methods of Raising the Water— The Wonderful Land 
of Egypt— Alexandria— A Visit to Pompey's Pillar— The Catacombs- 
Leaving Alexandria — Review of, and Reflections upon, the Journey 
thus far — Valuable Things Learned about Business, Eating, etc. — 
Some Advice— Messina in Sicily , I33 



LETTER Xin. 

Leaving Messina— The Volcano of Stromboli— Bay of Naples-How it 
Compares with New York Bay— The City of Naples— A Visit to 
Pompeii— Description of the Houses— The Temples, Theatres, and 
Basilicas — Herculaneum— The Museum and its Statuary from the 
Buried Cities— Palaces, Catacombs, and Tombs — A Ride through 
Naples— An Eruption of Mount Vesuvius , 143 



LETTER XIV. 

A Sight of Vesuvius in Eruption— Leaving Naples and the Journey to 
Rome— In the Holy City— A Visit to St. Peter's Church— Its Marvels— 
The Vatican, the Pope's Prison— Galleries of Pictures and Statuary-- 
The Capitol Museum— Other Attractions^ et<i., etc 154 



X 



Contents. 



LETTER XV. 

PAGE 

Yet Tarrying in Rome— More of the Siglits of the Ancient City— Italy and 
America Wedded— Increase of Art Taste— The Colosseum— The Foruin 
—Other Celebrated Strnctm-es— The Pantheon— The King's Residence 
— Castle of St. Angelo — Ruins of the Baths of Caracalla— The Cata- 
combs, etc., etc 163 

LETTER XVT. 

Leaving Rome— A Country of many Railroad Tunnels — The Carrara 
Marble Quarries— Pisa and its Leaning Tower and other Attractions 
- Genoa, the Principal Seaport of Italy— Milan— " The Last Supper " 
— The Great Cathedral— Description thereof — View from its Tower — 
Leaving Milan— The Alps Scenery— Arrival at Basle 171 



LETTER XVII. 

Palestine and Paris Contrasted— First Impression of the Latter City— 
An Art-Loving People — Moving the Statue of the Venus de Milo — A 
Contrast in Steps — The Hotels of Paris — The Restaurants — Wine Con- 
sumption — The French Great Lovers of Amusement — Grand Opera 
House— The Art-Galleries and their Treasures— Various Points of 
Interest 179 



LETTER XVIII. 

Paris to London— Poor Railway Accommodations— Old London — De- 
vastated by Fires, Pestilences, and Civil Wars— The Original City 
One Square Mile— Fragments of the Old Wall still Standing— Official 
Integrity— No Broadway Railroad Steal Possible here— Adhering to 
Old ^[elhods— National Conceit— Antiquated Railroad Methods— Ex- 
pressage Peculiarities— Underground, Surface, and Elevated or Upper 
Level Railroads— Ancient Guilds— Home Rule for Ireland— A London 
Banquet 



LETTER XIX. 

Leaving London for New York— Homeward Bound on the Ill-fated Oregon 
—A Faithful, Accurate, and Graphic Description of the Fearful Disas- 
ter-Behavior of the Officers and Crew— Heroism of the Passengers— 
On the Verge of Eternity— A Fortunate Escape— The Combination of 
Favorable Circumstances which Resulted in the Saving of Every Soul 
on Board 203 



NEW YORK TO THE ORIENT. 



LETTEE I. 

Taking Passage for Europe— Less Eisk in the Voyage than in 
the Daily Use of a Horse and Carriage^ — A Storm at Sea 
— Bad Cooking on Ocean Steamers — The City of London 
— Its Immensity — Old-Fogyism there — Large Addition to the 
Voting Classes, etc., etc. 

London, December 3, 1885. 

IN complying with tlie request to embody 
in some letters for publication tlie obser- 
vation and experiences of a journey to tlie 
Orient, I wish to request my readers to anti- 
cipate only such a result as they might natur- 
ally expect from the use of a very moderate 
amateur ability in that line. Such a trii3 can 
hardly fail to furnish the requisite material for 
this purpose, as it will embrace not only Pales- 
tine but something of Egypt and the various 
European countries : England, France, Italy, 
Turkey, etc. 

I take passage in the Gallia^ of the Cunard 
line. The choice among the different lines had 



12 New York to the Orient. 



been to some extent influenced by a former ex- 
perience of the great care and watchfulness ex- 
ercised in the management of their vessels, as 
well as by the claim they make that they have 
never lost the life of a passenger in an experi- 
ence of over forty years, since the line was 
established. This is certainly a most remark- 
able record, and serves forcibly to illustrate the 
very small percentage of risk attending a voy- 
age to Europe. There is much less risk than 
in the daily use of a horse and carriage. For 
in the latter case one is subject to constant dan- 
ger from the caprices of a freaky animal, while 
the forces which propel the steamer, and the 
appliances which control the elements, are much 
more subject to human control. 

The experiences of a voyage at sea are so 
monotonous that it would take the pen of a 
Dickens to make a detailed account of it in- 
teresting, hence I shall naturally pass it lightly. 
The hour of departure was so early — 6 a.m. — 
that most of the passengers slept on board the 
previous night — an experience they will be little 
likely to repeat, as the discomforts of the close 
state-room are even greater than when at sea, 
and one is wise to avoid adding a single night 
to the number necessarily involved in making the 



New York to the Orient, 



13 



voyage. In consequence of the early hour there 
was less of bustle and confusion than usually ac- 
companies the departure of an European passen- 
ger-steamer. 

Promptly at the hour the enormous vessel 
swings out into the stream, accompanied by two 
other large steamsliips going in the same direc- 
tion. But we part company with them in a 
few hours and see them no more. For three 
days we have a smooth sea, and most of the 
passengers are promptly on hand at meals, and 
all are promising themselves a smooth passage. 
On the fourth morning we find a ''fence" erect- 
ed around the dishes on the table, and very few 
people appear in their seats to make the at- 
tempt to climb the fence in search of their break- ' 
fast. Mysterious sounds of distress now reach 
the ear from the state- rooms, while a few more 
adventurous individuals are on deck leaning over 
the rail, each contributing his little quota to 
swell the volume of the briny deep. The cour- 
age of the previous three days is at a large dis- 
count. But the few who are in a condition to 
enjoy it are treated to one of the grandest of 
all sights — a storm at sea. Such a storm has 
burst upon us with tremendous fury. Tlie great 
ship, a ponderous mass that it would seem no 



14 New York to the OiHent. 

earthly power could move wlien lying at tlie 
wliarf, now tosses like a frail bark upon the 
mighty waves. Such a storm furnishes a won- 
derful illustration of the Almighty power ; and 
such perfect command of the vessel all through 
the storm shows most vividly the control that 
man has acquired over the elements. 

The passengers, rather few in numbers — only 
about fifty — at first seem reserved and distant 
in their bearing towards each other, but every 
evening they mingle together like members of 
one family, and when they arrive in Liverpool 
they part like old friends. 

A word about the cuisine of the steamship. 
I have often crossed the Atlantic in the steam- 
ers of different lines, and have always found the 
cooking gross and uninviting. All the meats, 
and in fact all dishes, are cooked beforehand 
and are generally overdone and greasy, and thus 
indigestible for the delicate stomach. There is 
a great abundance, and an immense amount of 
food is wasted. If some one of the prominent 
lines would inaugurate the plan of charging a 
fixed sum for the passage, and serve meals on 
the restaurant plan, allowing each passenger 
to pay for just what he orders, and have the 
dishes cooked as ordered, I am sure it would 



New York to the Orient. 



^5 



be a pronounced success. There is no reason 
wliy one should not have the best of cooking 
on an ocean steamer as well as in a first-class 
hotel. 

If the above plan should not be deemed 
practicable, there surely is no good cause why 
a steamer should not employ an experienced 
clief^ and have the meals cooked to order, as in 
all our best hotels. There is no lack of time, 
for the passengers have the entire day on hand 
and never need hurry at meals. The complaint 
of the grossness and unskilfulness in the cooking 
and serving meals on all the Atlantic lines is so 
general that it seems strange that some enter- 
prising company does not take the lead in this 
matter and inaugurate a reform. I know that 
many persons would give such a line the pre- 
ference. ^ 

The Gallia^ being now an old steamer, is quite 
slow as compared with the larger and more mod- 
ern ships of the same line. We are nine and 
a half days from New York to Liverpool. A 
night at Liverpool and a five-hours' ride on the 
Midland Railway through, among other shires, 
the very picturesque county of Derby, brings 
us to London, where we propose to enjoy a 
brief rest. 



1 6 New York to the Orient. 



This city is increasing in popnlation witli 
great rapidity, something like two hundred 
thousand each year, and is said to number now 
nearly five million souls. This huge popula- 
tion is scattered over an area of about two hun- 
dred and fifty square miles. One accustomed 
to other large cities can master the largest of 
them in a few days, but when he comes to Lon- 
don he finds it too much for him, within any 
reasonable period. He may think he knows 
London, and suddenly some day finds himself 
in the midst of a labyrinth of streets, and rows 
of buildings almost without end, which are all 
quite new to him. I have spent weeks in Lon- 
don and have often repeated this experience. 

Every time I visit England I am reminded 
afresh of the exceedingly conservative spirit per- 
vading the people. Not only is this true of the 
aristocratic classes, but of most of the men of 
infiuence who control large public institutions, 
railroads, insurance companies, banks, etc. The 
head of a department in one of the great rail- 
way companies here informed me that he de- 
monstrated to the Board of Directors that, by 
adopting the use of condensed gas for lighting 
the cars of the road, they could save many thou- 
sand pounds annually, besides a great amount 



New York to the Orient. 



17 



of labor and trouble. The board refused to make 
the change. This board was composed mainly 
of old men, one prominent member being eighty- 
five years old. The same is true of the system 
for checking the baggage of railroad passengers. 
The American system has been carefully ex- 
amined and pronounced far superior to any sys- 
tem in vogue in Europe, and would seem to be 
admirably adapted to the roads of the United 
Kingdom, where there are so many branch roads, 
which makes it difficult for a passenger to keep 
trace of his baggage, and keeps him in a con- 
stant state of apprehension lest it shall get 
astray ; yet the directors of all the leading roads 
refuse to adopt it. A small commencement has, 
however, been made in this direction, as baggage 
can now be checked on this system from any 
hotel or private house in New York to any point 
in London or Liverpool for a charge of one dol- 
lar. It can also be checked, in the same way, 
from the landing wharves in Liverpool to Lon- 
don. This much has evidently been done at the 
demand of American passengers, who constitute 
a very large fraction of the ocean travel between 
the two countries, and it is quite possible that 
in the course of twenty-five or fifty years it will 
be generally adopted. 



1 8 New York to the Orient. 



But, while we find some things like the above 
open to criticism, there are, on the other hand, 
many excellent things which we on the other 
side of the Atlantic might well adopt. But I 
hope to enter more fully into these matters in 
a future letter on returning from the long jour- 
ney proposed. 

The all-absorbing topic in England at this time 
is the addition of some 2,000,000 to the voters of 
the United Kingdom, mostly agricultural labor- 
ers, in conformity with a law recently enacted. 
This concession is said to have been unwillingly 
made by those holding the balance of power, 
under apprehension of coming trouble, and there 
can be but little doubt of the wisdom of the mea- 
sure under the circumstances. 



LETTER II. 



London to Paris— The Mann Boudoir-Cars— An Amusing Inci- 
dent—Hotel la Grand de Russe — The College at Varna — 
Pluck and Bravery of the Bulgarians — Arrival at Constan- 
tinople — Turkish Baths there and in America — Stamboul and 
its Mosques — Wonderful Stories about them — The Call to 
Prayer— A Grand Bazaar— Other Points of Interest— A Visit 
to the Whirling Dervishes— The Turk Chronically Opposed to 
all Improvements — Interesting Anecdotes — Dearth of News. 

Beyrout, Syria, Dec. 5, 1885. 

O]^ arriving in London, and learning that 
quarantine, on account of the cholera, 
prevailed again in Italy and Egypt, I conclude 
to go by Constantinople and return by those 
countries. Leaving London in the morning by 
the express-train for Paris, and passing the Chan- 
nel from Dover to Calais, which is always very 
disagreeable even in the most favorable weather, 
we have a live-hours' ride through a dismal coun- 
try, with train accommodations as bad as pos- 
sible, though we hold a first-class ticket. An 
American needs only to make this trip to feel a 
commendable pride in the railroad accommoda- 
tions of his own country. 

We arrive at Paris just in season to get din 

19 



20 



New York to the Orient. 



ner and take the express- train for Constantinople 
at 7.30. This train is made up of Mann boudoir 
carSj with dining-car attached, and is run by a 
company which also runs a similar train over 
the other leading continental roads, charging the 
passengers about twenty per cent, more than the 
regular railroad fare for first-class tickets, in 
addition to a round sum for the sleeping-cars. 
The meals are served at a fixed price, wines extra. 
This style of car, I understand, was originated in 
Chicago, and the inventor, Mr. Mann, came to 
Europe to introduce them, and, after making con- 
siderable progress in that direction, he sold out 
all his interests in Europe to the company which 
runs these express- trains, for 1,000,000 francs, 
and returned to America to introduce them there. 
I rode in one of his cars last May from Detroit to 
Chicago. On the whole they are more convenient 
and comfortable tlian the Pullman Sleepers. 
There is a passage along one side of the car, and 
the other side is occupied by compartments for 
two or four passengers each. These small rooms 
afford more privacy and comfort than is pos- 
sible in the Pullman cars, and the toilet-rooms 
are also more private and convenient. I did 
not expect, after former experiences in railroad 
travelling on the continent, to find such lacili- 



New York to the Orient. 



21 



ties and conveniences as are now attainable on 
several of the main routes through Europe. 

As we stop only two, three, or five minutes 
even in the larger cities, such as Strasburg, 
Stuttgart, Munich, and Vienna, I do not step off 
the train till we reach the Danube crossing to 
Rustchuk — a distance of 2,300 miles. An amus- 
ing incident occurred during the examination of 
my baggage on the frontier of Hungary. The 
officer spied a big red apple which I had brought 
from America, and eagerly seized it. I protested, 
and demanded the reason of his action. He 
caught the meaning rather from my manner than 
from the words spoken, I have no doubt, for his 
knowledge of plain English was unquestionably 
limited, and exclaimed, ''Phylloxera!" So I 
lost my beautiful apple, but I have no doubt my 
loss was his gain. 

The time through from London to Constanti- 
nople — 2,800 miles — is four days. We are com- 
pelled to spend one night at Yarna, the end of 
our railroad ride, on account of the high sea, 
which renders it impossible to get the passen- 
gers and mails on board of the steamer lying in 
the bay some half a mile from the wharf. All 
passengers are taken off to the steamers in small 
boats, and all goods in barges. Having formed 



22 



New York to the 07^ient, 



tlie acquaintance of a Queen's messenger, who 
was bearing clispatclies to the British minister at 
Constantinople, we get a room together at the 
Hotel la Grand de Russe. Wlien we gain a 
full knowledge of the proportions and accom- 
modations of the establishment we discover a 
singular appropriateness in not naming it Le 
Grand Hotel de Russe. But the ''grand" must 
come in somewhere. 

Having called with my new acquaintance on 
the British Consul, and having received an invi- 
tation to lunch with him the following day, our 
enjoyment of the hospitality of the Hotel la 
Grand de Russe is lessened to that extent, not 
specially to our regret, for we have an elaborate 
repast, savoring of the true English style of hos- 
pitality, and are afterwards accompanied by our 
host to the steamer. 

There is a large college at Yarna, numbering 
several hundred students and a large quota of 
professors. The war feeling is said to run high 
here, and the students and professors seem to be 
very patriotic, as nearly all the adults of the 
former, and all the latter except three, have vol- 
unteered for the war, and have already seen some 
hard fighting. It seems that on the breaking out 
of the war the Bulgarians had very few capable 



New York to the Orient. 



23 



officers, and that not only tlie Servians confi- 
dently expected to achieve an easy victory over 
tliem, but tlie Russians^ knowing their lack of 
officers, expected to be called upon to supply 
them, which would naturally assist that country 
in its designs upon Constantinople ; and so there 
will be much bitter disappointment at the won- 
derful pluck and bravery of the Bulgarians. 

At sunrise the next morning we arrive at 
the Bosphorus, which connects the Black Sea 
with the Sea of Marmora much in the same 
way as the East River connects Long Island 
Sound with New York harbor, and at 9 a.m. 
we arrive at Constantinople. Much of the dis- 
tance from the Black Sea the shores of the Bos- 
phorus are studded with the villas of Turkish 
officials, foreign ministers, consuls, etc., and the 
wealthy merchants of the great city, which they 
use for summer residences. On the confines of 
the city are several immense palaces, very elabo- 
rate and costly, belonging to the sultan, the princi- 
pal ones of which are usually visited by travellers 
who remain long enough to compass the formali- 
ties necessary to gain admission, which must be 
done through the foreign minister for each nation- 
ality. The sultan keeps himself very secluded ; 
is always surrounded by military guards, and 



24 



New York to the Orie7it. 



is said to be in constant fear of assassination ; 
and it is not unlikely liis fears are well found- 
ed, for many of his predecessors have lost their 
lives in that manner. 

After securing quarters at the Hotel d' Angle- 
terre, and engaging a dragoman — which function- 
ary is very necessary, especially for a short visit 
— the first use I made of him was to conduct me 
to a Turkish bath. I found the bath very refresh- 
ing after the long railroad journey ; but neither 
here nor in London did I find the Turkish bath 
so complete in all the appointments requisite for 
such an establishment, and especially of cleanli- 
ness, as is that of Dr. Shepard, on Brooklyn 
Heights, our own favorite bath for the past 
twenty years. The doctor is entitled to the dis- 
tinction of being the pioneer in introducing the 
Turkish bath into America, after having first 
visited England, France, and Turkey, and gained 
knowledge of the best methods, etc., etc. The 
doctor is one of the few men who have become 
inspired with an idea, the working out of which 
he believes would serve to benefit humanity, and 
to make it his life-work to practically embody 
that idea. 

Being refreshed by the bath and the first meal 
in Constantinople, which they call breakfast— 



Nczv York to the Orient. 25 



served at twelve o'clock — I took a carriage and 
my guide and proceeded to Stamboul, which is 
the distinctively Mohammedan quarter of the 
great city, and separated from the part more 
occupied by Christians by a long iron bridge, 
made in England and put up by English me- 
chanics. 

There are many very large mosques here, and 
we visited several of them, and especially the 
St. Sophia, which was built and long occupied by 
the Christians (as are many others here), but 
for several hundred years has been occupied and 
constantly used for purposes of w^orship by the 
Mohammedans. It is an exceedingly massive 
structure, some parts of the walls being evi- 
dently ten or twelve feet thick. It contains an 
immense amount of fine marble and mosaic work 
finished with great elaboration in detail. 

The Mohammedans have effaced nearly all the 
emblems of the Christian faith, the cross, heads 
and faces of angels, saints, etc., which great- 
ly disfigures the building. My guide gravely 
informed me that when the Mohammedans took 
possession of the building, on which occasion 
they slaughtered thousands of Christians who 
had gathered there for protection, two of the 
windows at the base of the dome were walled 



26 



Neiv York to the Orient. 



up witli marble, by direct act of God, to show 
his displeasure — tlie guide, of course, is a Chris- 
tian—and that when the Christians regain pos- 
session (which they all believe they are sure to 
do) these windows will be miraculously restored. 
He also informed me that, during that terrible 
massacre, a prominent Christian priest was di- 
rected by an angel to pass through a gate into a 
certain room, and he would be saved and the 
slaughter stopped. He entered the room, and 
the doors and windows were instantly walled up 
solid, and the lives of the people remaining in 
the church were saved. He added that the 
priest had been in this room six hundred years, 
and that he would come out alive when the 
church should be restored to the Christians. He 
asked me: Don't you believe it?" On ex- 
pressing a mild form of doubt as to a strictly 
literal interpretation and asking him: ''Do you 
believe it?" he answered: "Yes, indeed, it is 
so ; I know it." 

That settled the matter, and we proceeded to 
further investigate the mysteries and wonders of 
the grand old buildings, and my guide had no 
lack of wonderful and miraculous things to re- 
late. He showed me a very large marble pillar, 
surrounded at its base by a sheet of brass about 



Nezv York to the Orient, 



27 



a quarter of an incli thick. A hole had been 
worn tlirougli the brass and into the marble some 
three inches by the fingers of the faithful, who 
found water there, miraculously supplied, with 
which to cross themselves. The water ceased 
to flow when the Christians lost possession of 
the church, although faithful Mohammedans had 
ever since placed their fingers there and crossed 
themselves. But the water will flow again as 
soon as the Christians regain possession. As 
we passed through the mosque under the grand 
dome, many of the faithful were kneeling on the 
stone floor at their devotions, but I noticed that 
some of them paid more attention to us than to 
their prayers. 

The Mohammedans have built their tall mina- 
rets upon the old buttresses laid by the Chris- 
tians to support the church structure. They are 
of uniform shape, and many of them are very 
high. As we came out of the mosque it was the 
hour of sunset, and we heard the call to prayer 
from the gallery of one of the minarets far above 
our heads. The not unmusical voice, with the 
peculiar intoning, combined with the surround- 
ing sights and sounds, produced a strange and 
weird effect. , 

The mosques are very numerous, and many of 



28 



Nezu York to the Orient. 



tliem are large and massive. A majority of 
tliem liave been built by tlie different sultans 
to perj3etuate tlieir name and reign. Each one 
also builds a tomb in wMch to be buried with 
his family, and a clock at the tomb for the faith- 
ful to regulate tlieir watches by and leave their 
benediction. The clock is usually surrounded 
by a crowd of Mohammedans enjoying this pri- 
vilege and performing their pious duty. 

We next visited the Grand Bazaar, which 
covers many acres, and is said to be the largest 
bazaar in the world. It is quite imposing as a 
whole, but almost contemptible in detail, being 
composed mostly of small stalls or shops, filled 
with every kind of Turkish product, all made 
by hand, for there is no such thing as improve- 
ment here. One seems to be suddenly trans- 
ported beyond the pale of civilization ; no rail- 
roads, no machinery, no factories, no labor-sav- 
ing appliances, everything just as it was hun- 
dreds of years ago, and that, too, in a great city 
of a million population. A good illustration of 
what I would like to convey is furnished by the 
fact that it will take me nearly as long to com- 
plete my journey from Constantinople to Haifa, 
a distance of about twelve hundred miles, as it 
has to come from New York to Constantinople, 



New York to the Orie^it, 2g 



a distance of six thousand miles — viz., sixteen 
days. This is rather discouraging after con- 
gratulating myself on arriving here that my 
journey was nearly completed. 

The architecture of the city, outside of the 
palaces of the sultan and the mosques, is by no 
means remarkable, although some of the lega- 
tions have rather imposing buildings, notably 
the German and the English. 

The streets are very narrow, and, between the 
hordes of dirty vagrant dogs and dirtier men 
and women, they present an appearance anything 
but inviting. The smells and the noises com- 
plete a picture more disgusting than is afforded 
by any city that it has ever been my fortune to 
visit. 

Another special point of interest here is the 
old wall of the ancient city. We visited first 
the celebrated seven towers, which are on the 
side of the city washed by the Sea of Marmora. 
They are very high, wonderfully massive, and 
admirably adapted for defence. The old wall, 
with smaller towers at intervals of a few hun- 
dred yards, extends around the entire old city 
and had many gates. For centuries after the 
wall was built (over one thousand years ago) the 
gates were daily opened, closed, and guarded. 



30 



New Vor/c to the Orient, 



Now the gateways are used, but the gates are 
gone. The wall, with its towers and gateways 
and the three ditches outside, constitutes one of 
the most picturesque old ruins to be found in 
any quarter of the world. The ditches have 
been partially filled up and are rented by the 
city to gardeners, who raise vegetables for the 
city market. 

On our return to the city outside the walls we 
make a visit to one of the churches of the danc- 
ing dervishes and witness one of their extra- 
ordinary performances. There are about forty 
of them, with a chief priest at their head, en- 
closed in a fenced space about thirty feet square, 
in the centre of the building. At first they 
all kneel in prayer upon the floor, which is 
polished smooth by the bare feet. After the 
prayer comes the music, singing, with flutes ac- 
companying, also drums beating. Soon the 
whirling commences, all spinning around rapid- 
ly for some ten minutes ; then they rest about 
two minutes and spin again for ten minutes 
more. The whole performance reminds one of 
the scenes that are sometimes enacted at Metho- 
dist camp-meetings, the advantage resting with 
the Methodist, because his enthusiasm is genu- 
ine — inspired from some source — while that of 



New York to the Oj^iejit. 



31 



the dervishes appears to be perfunctory, the oft 
repeating of which tends to tameness and for- 
mality. The head priest of the order is mar- 
ried, and owns the church and a fine mansion, 
witli extensive grounds, which all pass to his 
successor at his death, while the ordinary priests 
are not permitted to marry. They appear to 
lead a very easy, lazy life, their work consist- 
ing of the daily religious ceremonies, which are 
generally performed in private, the public being 
admitted only on Wednesdays. 

In making these visits we ride many miles 
and pass through almost all parts of the city. 
We see some of the appliances of Western civi- 
lization, such as the tramway, the sewing-ma- 
chine, etc., but they are brought here by Eng- 
lishmen and Americans, quite against the protest 
of the Turk. He is chronically opposed to all 
imjn^ovements, as you would readily believe by 
witnessing the appliances and methods in daily 
use. I saw to-day a number of diminutive asses 
trudging along through the streets with very 
long pieces of lumber strapped to their backs. 
The same useful little animal constitutes himself 
a walking baking-shop, with two large baskets 
filled with bread strung over his back, each of 
which is larger than the animal himself. 



32 



Nezu York to the Orient. 



I saw several groups of loaded camels passing 
through the streets with their ungainly forms 
and deliberate step ; also, droves of sheep just 
arrived from Asia, with splendid coats of shin- 
ing wool. These scenes, with an occasional Eu- 
ropean carriage, with the tramways running on 
several of the principal streets, with crowds of 
poverty-stricken refugees from the various sur- 
rounding countries entering the city, with the 
gypsies who live here in large numbers, with an 
immense number of Jews festering in their filth ; 
with Armenians, Greeks, and Christians, and, 
above all, with the Mohammedans, the dominant 
race, standing doggedly in the w^ay of all improve- 
ment, it is easy to understand why Constantino- 
ple is called the most cosmopolitan city in the 
world. 

The Turk differs as much as possible from the 
Western races, not only in mental methods, but 
in his manners and habits of daily life. It is 
said that the difference between a Turk and a 
Christian, in Turkej^, is that the Turk when he 
wishes to do you honor puts on his hat and 
takes off his boots, while the Christian puts on 
his boots and takes off his hat. 

Contrary to tlie idea entertained usually in 
regard to the Turks, it is the universal testimony 



New York to the Orient. 



33 



that the lower orders are reliable and honest, 
while the higher orders do not sustain so good 
a reputation in this respect. I heard many 
anecdotes illustrative of this point. A certain 
common Turk, connected with a steamer run- 
ning between two cities, is often entrusted with 
large sums of money, in some cases thousands 
of pounds, and the delivery is always faithful 
and prompt. On one occasion he had £3,000 
strapped around his person. The steamer was 
lost in a storm and the boats smashed, and he 
was most roughly handled. But he delivered 
the money, while many a Christian would have 
kept it and sworn it was lost. 

Another incident is told of Mustapha, a com- 
mon Turk, who belongs to a life-saving corps, 
organized after the plan of ours in America. 
On one occasion, when a ship was wrecked off 
a high bluff, in the night, they could hear the 
cries of distress under the bluff. Mustapha was 
let down the bluff one hundred feet by a rope 
secured around his body. He found a seaman 
struggling with the waves dashing against the 
bluff. He seized him and was himself dashed 
senseless by the waves and lost his man. But 
he was drawn up, and soon, on recovering con- 
sciousness, he went down again in the same man- 



34 



Nezu York to the Orze7tt. 



Tier, witli (lie same result. He was let down the 
tliird lime and brought up the sailor, or rather 
his body, for he was now dead. Was not Mus- 
tapha a better Christian than the man who be- 
lieves in ''salvation by faith," and refuses to 
risk liis own life to save that of his brother? 

The Turks, even of the lower order, do not 
become servants to the peoj)le of other nation- 
alities, and in most cases where they are ser- 
vants to the higher classes of their own race 
they are slaves. Most of the women of the 
harems are slaves. 

The city is divided nearly in the middle by 
the Golden Horn, and the situation reminds 
one forcibly of I^ew York and its surroundings. 
Stamboul, situated on a peninsula, represents 
New York City. The other part of the city, 
which is called Pera, represents Brooklyn, wliile 
Scutari, across the Avide river, with the immense 
structure established by Florence Nightingale 
as an hospital in the late war in plain sight, re- 
presents Jersey City. New York, Naples, and 
Constantinople are said to possess the most beau- 
tiful harbors in the world. I have not yet seen 
the bay of Naples, but to my eye the bay of 
New York is finer than that of Constantinople. 

It seems very strange to an American, who 



New York to the Orie7it, 35 



reads in liis morning paper the news from all 
parts of the world, that here he must go weeks 
and weeks without news from anywhere, so ab- 
solute is the censorship of the press. We learn 
nothing here in Constantinople of the proceed- 
ings of the great conference now being held here. 
It is scarcely alluded to in the papers, and news 
of its doings reaches this city in the English pa- 
pers, printed some three thousand miles away. 
The same is true of the war between the Ser- 
vians and Bulgarians. We have here heard no 
particulars of the conflict since leaving London 
— only some unreliable rumors — and there is no 
doubt that the full particulars reach London and 
New York daily. You will quite understand 
the matter when I tell you that the only item of 
news that has reached me, except the money 
and market reports, since leaving America, on 
the 7th inst., nearly one month, is that of the 
death of Horace B. Ckiflin. That item was 
cabled over the day I left London. If you want 
to feel isolated, and get out of the way of every- 
thing that touches humanity, come to Turkey. 

How soon all this would change with the in- 
troduction of free schools, free speech, and a 
free press ! But until some change comes in the 
government, which is liable to occur at any time. 



36 New York to the Orient. 



there is little hope of a better condition- of things 
than now obtains. 

Having spent but two days here, of course 
it has been quite impossible to obtain full and 
satisfactory information of the great city, and 
many places which it is desirable for a stranger 
to visit have been omitted. 



LETTER III. 



Leaving Constantinople — Observing Thanksgiving Day — ^The Ex- 
cellent Defences of Constantinople — Arrival at Smyrna- 
One of the Oldest Cities of the World — A Description There- 
of — The Bazaar and Its Peculiarities — The Turk's Creed- 
Display of Brigands' Heads—The Island of Chios— The Ef- 
fect of Earthquakes — Samos, Patmos, and Rhodes — Then 
Direct for Cyprus — Beyrout— The American Presbyterian 
Mission there — Off for Baalbec by Diligence — An irrepres- 
sible Chicago Yankee — Ascending the Lebanon Mountains 
and on to Damascus — The Manufacture of Silk— The Euins 
of Baalbec — Mt. Hermon in the Distance. 

Beyrout, Syria, December 10, 1885. 
g^g] I E leave Constantinople, regretting that 
the arrangements for our journey pre- 
clude a longer visit at this most interesting old 
city. It is our first view of a distinctively East- 
ern civilization, and the shar^D contrasts which 
everywhere meet the eye and ear, in comparison 
with the scenes so recently left behind at home, 
do not fail to produce a most decided impres- 
sion upon the mind. 

We embark on the Austrian Lloyds steamer 
Hungaria^ leaving a small group at the Ameri- 
can legation in the midst of Thanksgiving din- 

37 



38 



Nezv York to the Orient, 



ner ; for Americans did not foiget in this far- 
away land that it was Thanksgiving day at 
liome, and on that occasion the little gronp 
wdio tlms celebrated the day at Constantinople 
no doubt enjo3^ed themselves especially well, as 
their host was Hon. S. S. Cox, who is the very 
personification of wit, good humor, and patriot- 
ism. 

As we leave the city we have an admirable 
view of the old wall and fortifications. We pass 
through the Sea of Marmora during the night, 
and earl}^ in the morning enter the Dardanelles, 
a long, narrow passage between the two conti- 
nents. The distance across, at the narrowest 
point, is about one mile, and the passage is 
very strongly fortified. 

One only need pass through the Bosphorus on 
the one side and the Dardanelles on the other 
to fully comprehend the admirable position of 
Constantinople for defence, and to cease to won- 
der why the Russians have not ere this accom- 
plished their long-settled purpose of gaining 
possession of the city and the passage from the 
Black Sea to the Mediterranean ; for these 
forts, aided by the Turkish navy, which is quite 
formidable, would be able to make a long re- 
sistance even without the aid of other navies. 



New York to the Orient, 



39 



which aid would be promptly rendered in such 
an emergency. We now enter the archipelago 
and begin at once to pass the numerous islands 
which stud the coast, the names of many of 
which are familiar to the readers of the New 
Testament. Our steamer is very slow, making 
only about nine or ten miles an hour ; but the 
cabin is homelike and sweet, the state-rooms 
comfortable, and the table good. The cabin- 
passengers are made up of Americans, English, 
Austrians, French, Italians, Turks, Greeks, Ar- 
menians, etc. A venerable Turkish pasha, who 
is travelling with his family, dines in the cabin, 
while his wives— inferior beings — browse outside 
on the deck, and seem to think it all right. The 
deck-passengers contain most of the above mix- 
ture, together with many other possible and im- 
possible varieties, great, lazy, black eunuchs, ser- 
vants, peasants, men, women, children, and dogs 
massed together in heterogeneous groups. Be- 
tw^een the quarrelling and singing of the men 
and women, the crying of the babies, and the 
howling of the dogs, we have music (?) night 
and day. 

On the morning of the third day Ave arrive at 
Smyrna, where we stop all day, delivering and 
receiving goods. This is one of the oldest cities 



40 New York to the Orient, 



ill tlie world. It dates so far back that its 
origin is lost in mystery. The earliest record 
that exists of it is that it was destroyed by its 
enemies many centuries before Christ, and that 
it was rebuilt during the time of Alexander the 
Great, some three hundred and fifty years before 
the Christian era. During the last part of the 
first century a Christian church was established 
here, and about a century later Poly carp suffered 
martyrdom in this city. It is now the most im- 
portant Asiatic seaport town on the Mediter- 
ranean. It looks much more enterprising and 
commercial than Constantinople. 

The limited harbor, which is enclosed by a 
massive stone wall, built by French capital, is 
filled with steamers discharging and receiving 
freight. The exports are fruits, cotton, carpets, 
etc., and the imports are cotton goods, glass, 
hardware, steel, sugar, etc. All the passengers 
and goods are landed by barges, though there 
seems no good reason why they cannot be landed 
direct on the stone pier, except that they never 
have been. 

Camels and men do the work of horses and 
carts. Many processions of camels are passing 
and repassing along the streets. Each line, of 
from six to twenty, connected by leading-strings. 



New York to the Orient. 



41 



is conducted by a diminutive ass or by an Arab, 
and the animal seems to perform tlie duty quite 
as intelligently as the man. 

The city is built compactly and in a substan- 
tial way. Its principal feature is the bazaar, 
which is the same old story over again — a series 
of little shojDs or stalls, filled with all sorts of 
Turkish goods, each presided over by a sharp 
Turk, the first article of whose business creed is 
to ask enough, and the second to get all he can. 
There are some interesting ruins on the brow of 
the hill just back of the city, which are said to 
be infested with brigands, so that it is unsafe to 
visit them without an escort. 

A few months since an English gentleman re- 
siding here was captured by the brigands while 
on a hunting excursion, who held him, and de- 
manded £15,000 for his ransom. His friends 
here raised some £1,500, and they gave him up 
for that sum. The Turkish government pursued 
them with a military force, captured and killed 
six of their number, and cut off their heads and 
placed three of them on the iron pickets of a 
fence in a public place in the city, and the other 
three inside the iron fence of the principal prison, 
in such a position that the people passing in the 
street could view them. I have purchased pho- 



42 Nezv York to the Orient. 



tos of the heads in these positions, for which the 
photographer demanded a high price, because he 
said he had to j)ay heavily to the Turkish offi- 
cials for the exclusive privilege of copying them. 

It seems that the brigands are greatly feared 
by the people, as no one will testify against 
them, even when they are caught, and it is mo- 
rally certain that they are guilty. I was in- 
formed by the German Consul at Smyrna tliat 
the gentleman alluded to above, when sum- 
moned to appear in court subsequently to testify 
against some others of the band who were cap- 
tured, was quite ready to swear that the heads 
belonged to some of his captors, but could not 
recognize the heads that were still on the shoul- 
ders of the other robbers, as he knew he would 
be murdered by the band if he did. This was 
not an exceptional case, for no one could be 
found who would testify against them. 

Smyrna contains a population of some 200,000, 
of which more than one-half are Greeks, the 
balance being Turks, Jews, Armenians, English, 
French, etc. 

Leaving Smyrna, we soon pass the island of 
Chios, where such devastation was wrought a 
few years ago by a terrible earthquake, in which 
over four thousand lives were lost, and which 



New York to the Orie7it, 



43 



all will remember awakened great sympathy 
tliroiigliout the civilized world. The whole re- 
gion is much disturbed from this cause. I am 
informed that several shocks occur at Smyrna 
every year. The island of Chios looks, as we 
pass it, like a series of barren mountains studded 
with cities and villages ; but the valleys are said 
to be very fertile, producing abundantly wine, 
olives, oranges, and other fruits. 

At this point the passage between the two 
continents is ten miles wide, and the scene from 
the deck of the steamer is magnificent. On the 
right are the towering mountains of Chios, and 
on the left the abrupt bluffs of the Asiatic coast, 
with a chain of high mountains in the back- 
ground. About noon we pass the island of 
Samos, and later in the day the island of Pat- 
mos, a name very familiar to all readers of the 
Epistles of Paul. The town of Patmos is situ- 
ated near the summit of a mountain on the 
island, and is crowned by an immense castle, ap- 
parently in ruins. Another day brings us to 
Rhodes, where we landed during the night, pass- 
ing near the spot where stood the famed Colos- 
sus of Rhodes. We have now passed through 
the archipelago, an exceedingly interesting sail of 
three days, and are just entering the broad 



44 



Nczv York to the O^'ient, 



Mediterranean Sea, in a direct course for the 
island of Cyprus. 

At Larnica, the principal port of Cyprus, we 
are detained a whole day, thus making our trip 
from Constantinople to Beyrout, eleven hundred 
miles, occupy just a week, a sufficient time now 
to cross the Atlantic, nearly three times the 
distance. But I am already learning to curb my 
ambition and moderate my pace, a lesson which 
may be most useful to many a man accustomed 
to brave the rushing tide of business life, and 
struggle with ceaseless energy for its prizes. 

The English now possess the island of Cyprus^ 
paying to the Turkish government a certain sti- 
pulated sum annually. 

Beyrout is a very old place. It is said to 
have been destroyed about two centuries before 
Christ, and to have been rebuilt by the Romans, 
who opened baths and theatres, and introduced 
gladiatorial combats. The manufacture of silk 
fabrics was established here during the third 
century. This is one of the oldest industries in 
this country, and still flourishes in many parts 
of Syria. Large numbers of the mulberry- tree 
are interspersed with fig and orange and olive 
trees. 

Since 1860, the date of the great massacre at 



Nezv York to the Orient. 



45 



Daiiiasciis, a large accession lias been made to 
tlie population of Beyrout, very many of the 
Christian population having removed thither 
from the former place, and the city is said to 
now contain a population of about 80,000. The 
architecture and streets present a decidedly Ori- 
ental appearance, but there are some marks of 
Westeru civilization. There are many modern 
carriages jpassing in the streets, and the effect is 
odd and curious as they jostle the laden camel 
trains approaching and leaving the city. 

The American Presbyterians established a mis* 
sion here about fifty years ago, with branches in 
various parts of the East. Connected with this 
is a printing-office, a commercial school, a medi- 
cal college, and a theological seminary, which 
affords superior advantages to foreign residents 
and others in educating their children. In an 
interview with the Rev. Dr. Jessup, one of the 
American missionaries, who has been stationed 
here over thirty years, I learn that they very 
seldom ^make any converts from Mohammedan- 
ism, which perhaps does not seem so very strange 
when we consider that the Mohammedan most 
firmly believes in and devontly worships one 
God, and accepts Mohammed as his prophet, 
while the Grod the missionaries present to him 



46 



Nezu York to the Orient, 



requires exj^lanatioii as to his composite nature 
and attributes, and the prophet of the Chris- 
tian must be accepted as God, or at least only 
tlirough him can God be api^roached. 

Beyrout is tlie principal seaport of Syria, and 
is assuming considerable commercial importance, 
possessing one of the best bays for anchorage on 
the coast. The situation of the town, on a slight 
elevation and directly on the bay, is excej^tion- 
ally fine, and the view gained from the deck of 
the steamer in approaching is indeed beautiful. 
The Lebanon range of mountains rises very ab- 
ruptly from the edge of the town, stretcliing in 
both directions up and down the coast. It is ter- 
raced a considerable distance towards the summit 
and cultivated. There are many small villages in 
sight, the inhabitants all being engaged in culti- 
vating grapes, oranges, figs, olives, and grain, 
which are all brought to Beyrout on mules for 
home consumption and for export. 

We leave Beyrout for Baalbec at four a.m. by 
diligence, a curious conveyance, combining the 
features of an European railway- carriage, a Con- 
cord stage-coach, and an omnibus. It is drawn 
by six animals (three abreast), a mixture of 
sjjecies, but mostly of the mule persuasion. The 
nationality of the passengers is evidently as 



Nezv York to the Orient, 



47 



varied as is that of the animals which draw the 
vehicle — Americans, Europeans, and, for aught 
we know, "Cretes, Arabians, and dwellers in 
Mesopotamia," with a corresponding mixture 
of tongues. 

The one saving clause for me is my Chicago 
friend, who is a study and a continual source 
of amusement. He is one of those versatile 
geniuses, which are peculiarly the product of 
America. Our minister at Constantinople, Hon. 
S. S. Cox, in introducing him to me, character- 
ized him most happily as the ''irrepressible 
Chicago Yankee." He has one of those peculiar, 
high-keyed voices, loud and self-assertive, which 
makes you laugh and get angrj^ at the same 
time, and if you try to analyze the product you 
ascertain that you are more amused than angry, 
and so soon find yourself tempting him to fur- 
ther use of his powers. He has been travelling 
in Europe and Asia for more than a year, and 
speaks several languages, and so proves a god- 
send as a companion to one who speaks only 
English. 

We ascend the main range of the Lebanon 
Mountains at once on leaving Beyrout. A dis- 
cance of three or four miles brings us to a very 
liigli elevation, and the view of Beyrout and the 



48 



Nezu York to the Orient, 



Mediterranean Sea from tlie sunjniit is esx)ecial]y 
line. From Beyrout to Damascus (about seventy 
miles) is a most substantial macadamized road, 
constructed by the French as a kind of memorial 
of the French expedition of 1860, and is the only 
similar road in Syria. Although the road is 
smooth and solid, it takes fourteen hours to 
make the seventy miles, so much of the distance 
is up-hill. All the traffic between Beyrout and 
Damascus passes over this road, much of the 
merchandise being transported by wagons. The 
camel and mule trains usually take the old track, 
which generally runs parallel, in order to avoid 
the tolls, which are very high. All kinds of 
enterprises and improvements that are inaugu- 
rated in this country are very expensive, mainly 
because the leading officials, who grant the pri- 
vileges, have to be heavily bribed. But the ex- 
pense falls on the people at last, for very heavy 
tolls have to be demanded. It is said that the 
French company owning the road divide fifteen 
per cent, annually on the capital invested. 

The entire mountain sections seem barren and 
sterile, especially when viewed from a distance, 
but a nearer view discloses the fact that most of 
the surface of the mountain is terraced with 
stone walls and cultivated, the principal crop 



New York to the Orient, 



49 



being grapes. The grape-vines are not trellised, 
as with ns, but lie flat on the ground, looking 
at a little distance like great black serpents. 
Grapes here are abundant and cheap, and they 
are exceedingly fine, being entirely ripe and of 
most delicious flavor, contrasting favorably with 
the table grapes in our own country, which are 
seldom dead ripe, and almost always have a 
crude acid in the centre. These grapes are found 
in abundance on every table, and constitute one 
course at dinner, together with oranges and figs, 
which are also very delicious. 

We pass many groves of the mulberry- tree, 
for one of the principal industries of this part of 
Syria is the manufacture of silk. But it seems 
remarkable to an American that it should all be 
made by hand in exactly the same way it has 
been made for hundreds of years. No steam- 
power, no improved machinery. As an example, 
showing the different results attained by the im- 
proved machinery of England and the United 
States, and the crude methods still prevailing 
here, I was told that it takes a man an entire day 
to weave a small pocket-handkerchief that re- 
tails for fifty cents. 

At Shtora, some thirty miles from Beyrout, 
we diverge from the main road and go twenty- 



50 



Nczu York to the Orient, 



five miles to the left to visit Baalbec. The road 
is much inferior to the French road, but we com- 
pass the distance by carriage in five hours. We 
pass through a fertile valley, some eighty or 
ninety miles long and fifteen to twenty miles 
wide, through the centre of which runs the 
Litauy River, which rises in the mountains aud 
passes through the ruins at Baalbec. It is a 
small stream, and is used through the entire 
valley for purposes of irrigation. We first see 
the ruins at Baalbec some fifteen miles before we 
reach the spot. In passing through this valley 
we have a fine view of Mount Hermon in the far 
distance, the highest mountain in Syria, with its 
summit covered with snow. But here is Baalbec, 



LETTER IV. 



The Earliest Records of Baalbec — Something about its Ruins — 
The Great Temple of the Sun, with a Description of its 
Rains — Most of the Holy Places Mythical — A Mingling of 
Ancient and Modern Work — A Smaller Temple also De- 
dicated to the Sun — The Journey to Damascus Resumed. 

Baalbec, Syria, Dec. 15, 1885. 

^^HE earliest written records we have of 
Baalbec occur in the third century of the 
Christian era, and there is little doubt it was 
built by the Romans, although there are various 
mythical claims put forth as to its origin, some 
of which carry it back to a very much earlier 
period. One account is to the effect that it was 
built by Uz, who was the grandson of Shem. 
The Arabs claim that the great temple was built 
by Solomon, and that it was afterwards convert- 
ed into a citadel, and there are records extant 
showing that it was used as a fortress during the 
middle ages. The temple was called Heliopolis 
by the Greeks, who supposed that it was built 
by the worshippers of the sun. History records 
that the Christians were here persecuted from 
time to time during the third and fourth cen- 
turies, and it is claimed that it was destroyed by 

51 



52 New York to the Orient. 



Cons tan tine. There is little doubt that it was 
destroyed about that period, and by the Chris- 
tians. 

In viewing these stately ruins now, and trying 
to form some faint conception of the grandeur of 
the original structures, and remembering that 
the work of destruction was performed by the 
Christians, one can naturally be a little more 
tolerant with the Mohammedans who defaced 
the Christian churches at Constantinople when 
they gained the possession of them by destroy- 
ing the representations of Christ and the saints 
and angels, and all the mottoes and emblems of 
Christianity. They at least left the structures 
intact, which stand to-day the wonder and admi- 
ration of the world. The ruins of Baalbec were 
discovered during the sixteenth century by Eu- 
ropeans. Since that period the work of destruc- 
tion has been completed by earthquakes, which 
have occurred at various periods. In view of 
such a history, covering so many centuries, during 
which these colossal buildings were reared and 
their destruction consummated, both by human 
agencies and the decay of passing cycles, one 
must be dull indeed who can stand in such a 
presence unmoved. 

I had heard and read much of the ruins of 



New York to the Orient. 53 



Baalbec, and there is nothing embraced in my 
visit to this historic land which I had antici- 
pated with so mach interest. I have seen no- 
thing thus far, nor do I expect to, affording such 
satisfaction as this visit to Baalbec. Most of the 
holy places, except the sites of cities and moun- 
tains, and probably all of the numerous relics, 
are mythical and spurious. But here is a ''real 
presence," requiring no stretching of your faith 
or taxing of your credulity. You can read 
much of the history of the place in the records 
lying before you. Your feet press them, your 
eyes behold them. Neither the passions of men 
inspired by the fiercest fanatical zeal nor the de- 
cay of centuries has been able to efface the re- 
cord. Let me now attempt a brief description, 
which may give some faint conception of these 
stupendous ruins. 

In visiting this place the first thought that 
occurs to one is the wonder how such a city 
should have been in such a location, on the edge 
of an open plain far off in the interior. But 
everything connected with its history is so en- 
shrouded in mystery, all positive record of its 
origin having been destroyed, that we can only 
conjecture. That it dates far back of the Chris- 
tian era there can be no doubt. 



54 New York to the Orient. 



The principal group of the ruins is that form- 
ed by the remains of the great Temple of tlie 
Sun. The grand entrance faces the south. Tlje 
portico was thirty-six feet wide and had twelve 
columns in front, the bases of which only are 
preserved. On each side, and connected with 
the portico by doors, are large, square cham- 
bers, built of solid stone, and richly ornament- 
ed with, the most elaborate carving. These side 
structures were at one period converted into 
fortified towers. 

From this grand entrance we pass into a large 
hexagonal court two hundred feet long and two 
hundred and fifty feet wide. Still within this, 
and approached by massive gateways, lies the 
great inner court, which is nearly four hundred 
feet wide by four hundred and fifty feet long. 
This court is surrounded by an exceedingly 
massive wall containing many highly ornamental 
chambers. All this is only the approach to the 
great temple, which we reach by passages on 
the north side of the great court just described. 

Very little remains in its original position of 
this wonderful structure, but some description 
of the portion still standing and of the remains 
scattered about will help to form an idea of its 
vast proportions and wonderful beauty. Six 



New York to the Oi^ient. 



55 



columns on one side only remain in position. 
We caught a view of these many miles before 
reaching the city. They are sixty feet in height 
and seven and a half feet in diameter, standing 
on bases seven feet high, and crowned with a 
cornice, seventeen feet high, carved in the most 
elaborate and artistic manner. The three blocks 
composing each column are held together by an 
immense iron bar passing through their centre. 
The Arabs and Turks have mutilated the co- 
lumns in several places in their efforts to re- 
move the bars of iron. There were originally 
nineteen of these columns on each side and ten 
on each end of the temple. The six now stand- 
ing look very insecure, and seem liable to fall at 
any time. The ruins of these columns lie scat- 
tered about in great confusion. 

So complete is the destruction of the great 
temple which these massive columns surrounded 
that its form and special features can only be 
conjectured. The foundations of it stood about 
fifty feet above the surrounding plain upon 
which the city was built. Outside of all, and 
twenty-nine feet distant from the temple, stands 
an outer wall. This is called the ''Cyclopean 
wall," from the size of some of the blocks of 
which it is built. These stones now demand 



56 New York to the Orient. 



our special attention. Everybody lias heard of 
these wonderful blocks of stone, but only seeing 
them can convey an adequate conception of their 
size. There are three of them in this wall, each 
thirteen feet high, and about the same in width, 
and some sixty-four feet long, and, being placed 
end to end in the wall, they occupy the space of 
about two hundred feet of its length, which is 
but a moderate fraction of the entire length of 
the wall on the north side of the main temple. 
This portion of the outer wall was evidently un- 
finished, as these big stones, which were placed 
in the wall nineteen feet above the ground, un- 
doubtedly formed the top layer of the original 
structure, although the Turks had (most likely 
some centuries after the temple was built) piled 
many courses of huge blocks (evidently frag- 
ments of the original temple) above these three 
great blocks in tlie wall. That this part of the 
wall is modern, and built by unskilled hands, is 
perfectly evident, as the eye detects here the base 
of a column and there a cornice, finished with the 
exquisite skill of the original builders, mingled 
with plain blocks of stone and without any ap- 
parent design. 

Another indication that this w^all was un- 
finished is that there is a huge block lying at 



Neiv York to the Orient. 



57 



the quarry, about a mile from the building, 
made evidently to match those already set in 
the wall. This stone is seventy-one feet long, 
thirteen feet wide, fourteen feet high. There is 
no mistaking its proportions, as it lies above the 
ground, and can be easily measured. Some idea 
may be formed of the size of this block by con- 
ceiving of a room thirteen feet wide, fourteen 
feet high, and seventy-one feet long, and then 
realizing that this stone will exactly fill the space. 
The great marvel is how these immense blocks 
were removed from the quarry, transported near- 
ly a mile, and hoisted nineteen feet from the 
ground into the wall. And there seems now 
little chance of our ever ascertaining. It ap- 
pears impossible to accomplish this feat to- 
day, with all the modern appliances of steam 
machinery, including hydraulic power, of which 
we can hardly suppose the ancients possessed 
any knowledge. 

On the west side and very near the great tem- 
ple stands a much smaller one, also dedicated to 
the Sun. This building is in a better state of 
preservation, and is also surrounded by a row 
of magnificent columns, fifteen on each side, 
and eight on each end. Some of these are 
still standing, many are lying scattered on the 



58 



New York to the Orient. 



ground, and one lias lodged, in falling, against 
tlie main wall of the bnilding. It has doubtless 
stood in that position for centuries, with one end 
resting upon the floor and the other end leaning 
against the wall. I will not attempt a minute 
description of this smaller temple. It was evi- 
dently built with the same skilful hands, and 
perhaps for the same general purpose. 

Our hotel here, which is a solid stone struc- 
ture from bottom to top, was made from the scat- 
tered fragments of the great temple. Immense 
quantities of the materials composing the ori- 
ginal structures have been removed and thus 
utilized. 

We return by the- same route to Shtora and 
resume our journey to Damascus, some account 
of which will comprise our next letter. 



LETTER V. 



Back to Shtora — By Diligence to Damascus — Its Famed Gar- 
dens — A Cool Reception, but a Fire and Good Dinner 
Warm us — The Oldest City in Palestine— Its Celebi'ated 
Blades and Silk Manufactures — All Labor-Saving Machinery 
Resisted — The Mosques — Head of John the Baptist — The 
Great Bazaar— The " East Gate of the City "—House of 
Ananias — Paul's Prison— The Private Houses — Witnessing 
the Rite of Circumcision — The House of Naaman — Massacre 
of 1860 — It was Encouraged by the Turkish Government— 
An Interesting Episode. 

Damascus, Syria, Dec. 20, 1885, 

EAVINGr Baalbec at five o'clock a.m. we 
retrace our steps to Shtora, reaching that 
place in time to get our lunch and take the dili- 
gence for Damascus. First we cross the valley 
between the two ranges of mountains, and then 
ascend and cross the Anti-Lebanon range. All 
the distance we have the same splendid macada- 
mized road. We have as fellow-passengers the 
Turkish pasha, who, with his harem, came in 
the steamer with us to Beyrout. At the last 
station before reaching Damascus he transferred 
his retinue to a carriage, which was in waiting, 
and made the entry into the city in grand style, 

59 




6o 



New York to the Orie7it. 



while the rest of us stuck to the democratic dili- 
gence. 

We are now in the suburbs, and have a fine 
view of the famed gardens of Damascus, though 
for the most part they are enclosed by high, 
massive stone walls, and we can only get a 
view of them from elevated points of the road. 
The gardens have been celebrated for thousands 
of years. They owe their wonderful luxuriance 
mainly to the river that runs through the middle 
of the city, which is diverted, at various suitable 
points, into six canals, three on each side of the 
stream, which furnish every house and grounds 
in the city with an abundance of pure, fresh 
water. After passing through so much barren- 
looking mountain scenery, it is very refreshing 
to come suddenly upon a spot so delightfully 
green and luxuriant — like an oasis in the desert. 

Damascus being situated among the mountains 
and at a considerable elevation above the Medi- 
terranean, it is much colder than at Beyrout. 
On our arrival at the hotel, being chilled by the 
cold air, we inquired for a fire. The landlord 
answered: ^'We have no fire; we never light 
our fires till after the Christmas holidays." But 
after w^e had rather forcibly suggested that a 
hotel was intended for the comfort and conveni- 



New York to the Orient, 6i 



eiice of travellers, and that just now we were 
very uncomfortable, lie rather reluctantly or- 
dered a fire to be kindled in a very diminutive 
stove in the large and high dining-room. So we 
carried our point, succeeding in making an in- 
novation in a country where innovations are un- 
popular, and, between the fire and a good dinner, 
got warm. Notwithstanding this rather cool re- 
ception on our arrival, we found the Victoria 
Hotel much the best house we have encountered 
since leaving Europe. 

Damascus is said to be the oldest city in Pales- 
tine. Mention is made of it in the book of Grene- 
sis, but no hint is given as to its origin. It 
acquired great importance at a very early age 
from being the starting-point of the caravan 
trade with Persia and various parts of the East. 
The manufacture of the famed Damascus blades 
was established' here at a very early date, also 
the manufacture of silk fabrics. The former 
trade was lost to the city in the year 1300, when 
it was plundered the Tartars and the famous 
armorers w^ere captured and carried to Samar- 
cand, where the blades are still made ; and the 
latter has been much encroached upon since the 
massacre of the Christians in 1860, as both the 
manufacture and sale of silk goods was largely 



62 Nezv York to the Orient. 



in the hands of the Christians, and many of 
those Avho escaped with their lives would not 
resume their business and residence here, but 
moved to Bej^rout and other places. 

Here, as everywhere in this country, the in- 
troduction of labor-saving machinery is steadily 
resisted. Exactly the same primitive methods 
prevail that have been used for four thousand 
years. An operative can weave only one small 
silk handkerchief in a day ; but it would be 
quite impossible to introduce a power loom with 
which he could weave thirty or forty in the same 
length of time. 

The two leading physical features of the city 
are the mosques and the great bazaar. There 
are said to be three hundred of the former scat- 
tered in all parts of the city. The great mosque 
is said to have been erected upon the site of a 
heathen temple. It was built early in the Chris- 
tian era, and was formerly known as ^'the 
Church of St. John," as it contained a casket 
with the head of John the Baptist. A relic is 
now shown which the people here swear is the 
veritable head that was presented to Herodius on 
a charger. We have no doubt it will be quite 
safe to receive this claim with many degrees of 
allowance. 



New York to the Orient, 



63 



The bazaar occupies an immense area, embrac- 
ing the street called Straight," which is a 
straight, wide avenue, covered with a roof, and 
said to be a mile long. In this bazaar nearly all 
the goods that are offered for sale are made. It 
is well worth an exhaustive visit, but a detailed 
description would hardly be interesting. 

One of the most striking old land-marks is the 
''east gate of the city." The centre gateway is 
thirty-eight feet high and twenty feet wide, with 
a smaller gate each side. Not far from this gate 
is situated the house of Ananias, at least so tra- 
dition has it. Its evident age would seem to 
entitle it to that distinction. There is a small 
private chapel under the court-yard, used by the 
Roman Catholics, who have possession of the 
premises. One wonders that Ananias and Sa- 
phira had not said their prayers to better effect, 
and so been fortified against the sin of lying. 
May it not be that this was the incii3iency of 
the modern Christian fashion of committing the 
same sin % If the same penalty were attached to 
the sin in this Christian age, would there not be 
an alarming decrease in the population % We 
saw the prison where Paul was said to have been 
confined, and the place where the window was 
located by which he was let down by the wall 



64 



New York to the Orient. 



in a basket and so made his escape. Near by 
was the tomb of the keeper of the prison, who 
was put to death by order of tlie king because 
he allowed his prisoner to escape. 

AVe visited several other points of interest, the 
Greek church, the Arch of Triumph, and the big 
plane-tree, called the ^'Hangman's Tree," which 
is forty-eight feet in circumference at the largest 
part of the trunk, etc. , etc. We also gained ad- 
mission into two private houses of wealthy citi- 
zens — one a rich Jewish banker and the other a 
Christian gentleman. They were both spacious 
and magnificent in the interiors but very com- 
monplace outside. While we were examining the 
house of the Jew a procession of common-look- 
ing people came into the inner court from the 
street bearing flowers and bringing a boy-baby 
eight days old. They had brought the child to 
be circumcised, as the rich man allowed his poor 
brethren to use his house for that purpose. The 
priest was waiting in a room up-stairs, to which 
the procession proceeded. Our dragoman said 
we could go in, so we pressed in among the rest 
and witnessed the performance of the rite of cir- 
cumcision. 

We passed the house of Naaman, as it is 
called, a hospital for lepers, supposed to be on 



Ne^v York to the Orient. 65 



tlie site of Naaman's house. It has at present 
some twelve or fifteen unfortunates afflicted with 
that dreadful malady, and is supported by chari- 
ty. Near by is the large tomb where all tlie re- 
mains of the victims of the terrible massacre of 
1860 were deposited. 

As many, especially so far away as America, 
have, after a lapse of a quarter of a century, a 
rather indefinite idea of the tragedy enacted here 
in 1860, I will give a brief account of the mas- 
sacre, with some allusions to the events which 
led to it and culminated in that awful butchery. 
The causes did not originate in Damascus, but 
in a large mountain district called ''The Le- 
banon," which lies near the sea-coast, and be- 
tween Damascus and Beyrout. This section was 
inhabited by Druses and Maronites, one-third of 
the population belonging to the former sect and 
two-thirds to the latter. The Druses have ex- 
isted as a sect since the eleventh century, and 
take their name from a leader of that period 
named Darazi. His system was full of myste- 
ries, and threw a cloak over the indulgences of 
the worst passions of human nature. They are 
governed by a temporal and spiritual chief or 
sheik, each having absolute power in his realm. 
They observe great secrecy in their worship, and 



66 New York to the Orient, 



are ever on tlie defensive when approached on 
the snbject of their belief and religious rites. 
Their acts show plainly enough that their belief 
is a terrible embodiment of savagery and lust. 

By their enemies it is said that the religion of 
the Druses allows certain gross immoralities and 
cruel practices, but they keep everything so se- 
cret that little can be known except what may 
be inferred from their outward lives and man- 
ners. They have a peculiar method of divorce. 
The husband has the power to divorce his wife 
at any time. He simply bids her go back to 
her family, using a certain form of words, and 
henceforth she must not speak to him or look 
at him. The husband, however, is not entirely 
absolved from supporting her, for in the last ex- 
tremity he must see that she is supplied. But 
practically, it is said, the husband seldom does 
anything in that way. 

While stopping in a Druse village as the guest 
of a gentleman who has a residence there, we 
learned that the cook was a divorced wife of the 
spiritual sheik of the village, and, as she saw 
him coming to the house, she instantly aban- 
doned her work and hid herself, and remained 
hidden during the visit. The Turkish govern- 
ment, to which the sect owes allegiance and 



New York to the Orient. 67 



pays taxes, recognizes these divorces. At one 
period the Druses were so strongly established 
in southern Lebanon that the entire range was 
called the mountain of the Druses. The north- 
ern portion was occupied by the Christian sect 
of the Maronites. They were named after their 
master, one Maron. They were long estranged 
from the Roman Catholic Church, but finally 
gave their adhesion to it. 

The pope overlooked many irregularities in 
them, and contented himself with their acknow- 
ledgment of their allegiance to him. Over a cen- 
tury ago a bitter feud originated between these 
sects, in consequence of the conversion of two 
important personages to the Maronite faitii. 
This feud has never been healed, and paved the 
way to the terrible massacres of 1840 and 1860. 
It is beyond all question that the Turkish gov- 
ernment have always directly encouraged the dis- 
sensions between those two sects, and have ever 
been ready to help the Druses in their efforts to 
exterminate the Maronites (Christians). Indeed, 
it is positively proven that on several occasions, 
when the Druses and the Maronites were in col- 
lision, they secretly furnished arms to both par- 
ties. The animus with which pride of race and 
the Mohammedan religion inspires the Turk is 



68 



New York to the Orient, 



indescribable, and accounts in some degree for 
their treachery and cruelty in striving to cir- 
cumvent and undermine any form of Cliristiani- 
seeking to gain foothold among them. 

Tills brief preliminary explanation furnishes 
the key to the terrible slaughter of the Maron- 
ites at Damascus in 1860, which so shocked 
the civilized world everywhere. The origin 
of this massacre was the bitter feud between 
the Druses and the Maronites of the Leba- 
non, and the outbreak at Damascus did not 
occur until more than a month of slaughter and 
pillage had been accomplished in the Lebanon, 
and it has been abundantly proved that the 
Mohammedans in Da;mascus were encouraged 
by the Turkish government in this dreadful 
work, and there is very little doubt that a di- 
rect order was given to that end. 

The six great Christian powers of Europe now 
interfered and selected the governor-general of 
the Lebanon. The Porte had to submit. One 
of the provisions of this arrangement is, that 
the taxes for the whole province shall be paid 
in one sum, instead of being collected, as pre- 
viously, directly by the Turkish government. 
This arrangement works admirably, and since 
its adoption peace and great prosperity prevail. 



Nezv York to the Orient, 69 



When the revulsion came after tlie interfe- 
rence of tlie Christian powers, large demands 
were made by those Christians who survived the 
massacre at Damascus, and, as they were backed 
by the attitude of the powers, large sums were 
paid by the rich Mohammedan merchants ; and 
it is said that many of them were entirely ruin- 
ed, while some of the Christians, who had not 
really suffered seriously, w^ere enriched from 
that source. Many Christians, who had grudges 
against Turks or owed them money, took advan- 
tage of the change in the course of events, and 
sated their revenge or got absolved from their 
obligations. The Christian quarter of the city, 
which was devastated and burned, has been 
mostly rebuilt during the twenty-five years that 
have since transpired. 

A most interesting episode of the great mas- 
sacre occurred towards its close. A very promi- 
nent Bedouin sheik, who exercised great con- 
trol over this part of Syria, took a bold stand 
at the moment when the Christians of Haifa, 
Acre, N'azareth, and otlier towns were daily ex- 
pecting the deadly attack, and sent a faithful 
follower to each place and force enough to awe 
the Moslem populace, as well as the authorities, 
and by this decisive measure stopjped the move- 



70 New York to the Orient, 



ment against the Christians and saved their lives. 
But I am sorry to add that the moment the siege 
was over the Christians (?) returned to their avo- 
cations, never even thanking their deliverer. 
And this man w^as a wild Bedouin, who could 
neither read nor write. He afterwards became 
very poor, and died only two weeks ago in 
great poverty. 



LETTER VI. 



Jaffa, the Joppa of Scripture — The House of Simon, the Tan- 
ner — Off for Jerusalem — Something about Ramleh — The 
Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem, and the Christmas 
Celebration thereat; the Legends connected therewith — The 
Plain of Bethlehem — The Field of Boaz — Jerusalem, City of 
the Great King — What was Seen on a Tour through it — A 
Few Words about the American Consul. 

Jerusalem, December 25, 1885. 

3AFFA, called in Scripture Joppa, one of the 
principal ports of Palestine, is situated on 
a liigh bluff, aod presents a picturesque appear- 
ance as tlie traveller approaches it by steamer. 
It has no harbor, and when it is very rough the 
steamers cannot land passengers, and they are 
often carried by to their great inconvenience. 
As in all the ports of Palestine, passengers and 
goods are landed by small boats, while the ves- 
sel lies in the open sea, some quarter of a mile 
from the shore. The city is small and dirty. 
The streets are narrow and very crooked. One 
of the principal thoroughfares we found, on 
measurement, to be only six feet wide from 
house to house, with no sidewalks, of course. 
About the only claim the city has to distinc- 

71 



72 



New York to the Orient, 



tion on the score of antiquities is the posses- 
sion of the house of "Simon, the tanner," 
which we have visited. It is a strongly-built 
old house, and looks as though it might be either 
five hundred or five thousand years old. 

We leave Jaffa for Jerusalem early on the 
morning of December 24, in a pouring rain, 
being desirous of visiting Bethlehem^ and wit- 
nessing the ceremonies in the Church of the 
Nativity on Christmas day. We pass several 
interesting spots on the road. At Ramleh is a 
high, old tower, which is said to be all that 
remains of an ancient Turkish mosque, and 
that it was erected by the Crusaders. There 
is a tradition that forty Christian martyrs, 
who were precipitated from its summit, now 
repose beneath in a tomb excavated for that 
purpose. Further along our dragoman points 
out the field where Samson tied the firebrands 
to the foxes' tails, and sent them, all ablaze, into 
the fields of ripened corn belonging to the Philis- 
tines ; also the vale of Ajaloij, where Joshua 
commanded the sun and moon to stand still 
while the Israelites slew the hosts of the enemy. 

On the morning of the 25tli we leave Jerusa- 
lem in a drenching rain and arrive in one hour 
at Bethlehem, in season to witness the celebra- 



New York to the Orient. 73 



tion of tlie great Mass which the Roman Catho- 
lics liold on Christmas morning in their chapel 
in the Church of the Nativity. The music is 
fine and the ceremonials elaborate and, to us, 
incomprehensible. 

The Church of the l^ativity is supposed to oc- 
cupy the very spot where Christ was born, and 
is in the joint possession of the Roman Catho- 
lics, the Greeks, and the Armenians, each 
having a chapel in the church edifice. On 
Christmas day these three sects occupy by 
turns the small chapel and altar in the base- 
ment, containing the manger in which Christ 
was born, so that it is in use during the whole 
twenty -four hours. The Greek priests w^ere just 
moving out of the chapel as we entered. The 
Roman Catholic clergy entered immediately, 
and took possession with all their machinery of 
worship, burning of incense, etc. After these 
came the Armenians wdth their mumble-jumble. 
From all that is said of the rivalries and bicker- 
ings of these three sects, it is to be feared that 
they are not very thoroughly permeated with the 
spirit of Him whose birth they thus celebrate. 

The manger is deep down under the church, 
and is claimed to be the identical one in which 
Christ was born, Near the manger is the spot 



74 



New York to the Orient. 



where tlie wise men stood when they came from 
the East to worship Him, and the exact point 
over which the star stood is represented by a 
metal star on the floor. Near by, and ap- 
proached by a dark passage, is the milk-cave, 
where the Virgin spent one night previous to the 
flight into Egypt, and the legend is that one drop 
of milk exuded from her breast here, and the en- 
tire surface of the stone composing the cave im- 
mediately turned white, and that any woman 
who does not have a supply for her babe will at 
once find the fountain opened by rubbing a frag- 
ment of this stone upon her breast. I could not, 
however, help observing that the whole formation 
was limestone, and that the color of the stone 
walls in the cave was identical with that of all 
the surrounding stones. 

From the brow of the hill on the edge of the 
city we look down upon the plains of Bethlehem, 
where the ' ' shepherds watched their flocks by 
night," also upon the field of Boaz, where Ruth 
gleaned after the reapers. 

Bethlehem is a compact little city of about 
5,000 inhabitants, presenting the general ap- 
pearance of the cities of Palestine : solid stone 
houses with stone or tiled roofs ; narrow, crooked, 
and very dirty streets. The sewerage is above 



New York to the Orient, 75 



ground, and no pains seem to be taken to con- 
vey away the accumulated filtli. Returning to 
Jerusalem we pass the tomb of Rachel, situated 
immediately upon the road between the two 
cities. 

Jerusalem ! City of the great King, city of the 
Christian's affection, city of the Jew's passionate 
idolatry, scene of the public ministry of Christ 
and of His death ! This is indeed hallowed 
ground. It is no wonder that so many pilgrims 
wend their way thither with pious zeal, or that 
so many aged Jews return here to die. The city 
now contains 40,000 inhabitants, and more than 
half are Jews, the proportion of their race hav- 
ing greatly increased during the last few years. 
Many very poor Jews return here, large num- 
bers being sent by wealthy Jews of England and 
by different societies which have interested them- 
selves in their behalf. 

It has occurred to me that next to an actual 
visit to these scenes would be the plain descrip- 
tion of an eye-witness, and some rehearsal of the 
claims made for them by their custodians. By 
this means the reader can form some idea as to 
which are genuine or which are spurious. 

Our first view of the city, gained from the roof 
of our hotel, of course within the walls, is sadly 



76 



New York to the Orient. 



disappointing. It is really a scene of desolation. 
Except a few domes and prominent buildings, 
it seems to be really a city of ruins, though the 
area within the walls is small, and they have 
had many centuries in which to rebuild. When 
one thinks of a city of which it could be said — 

Glorious things of thee are spoken, 
Zion ! city of our God " — 

and then views the modern city, with its narrow, 
crooked, and dirty streets ; with its heaps of rub- 
bish and total absence of all sanitary appliances ; 
with its teeming population, whose faces, for the 
most part, look pale and pinched and wan, as if 
some fell disease had already secured them as 
victims, the contrast between the pictures of the 
old and the realities of the modern city is, in- 
deed, most striking. Hence a cursory view of 
the city, or a superficial examination of its con- 
tents, discloses little towards realizing one's pre- 
conceived idea of its glories and its beauties. 

The Jerusalem of two thousand years ago can 
only be in any degree realized by patient re- 
search far beneath the surface which modern 
civilization has, during the lapse of many cen- 
turies, accreted above the glorious ancient city. 
All the sacred spots within the walls are covered 



New York to the Orient, 77 



with strata after strata of rubbish, and above 
all witli a shroud of rottenness woven by the 
seething population now covering its surface. 
Hence, in the tour we now propose through the 
city and its surroundings, we shall instinctively 
take, with ''many grains of allowance," most of 
the statements that will be glibly told us of the 
sacred spots and of the incidents that have oc- 
curred upon them, and we may expect to be 
pained by the exhibition of the wild superstition, 
the fanaticism, and the insane jealousies of the 
numerous religious sects which make up modern 
Jerusalem. 

We make our home while in the city at the 
Mediterranean Hotel, which is the leading one of 
the city, and really one of the best houses we 
have found in this country. One must not ex- 
pect to find what we in America or England call 
''first-class" accommodations. We meet here 
many Americans and English, and get acquaint- 
ed with each other with wonderful facility. In- 
deed, the circle seems to comprise a harmonious 
and jolly family group. 

At dinner we are presided over by the Ameri- 
can consul, Mr. Merrill, who makes the hotel his 
home. He and his accomplished wife are the life 
of the circle, and they are exceedingly attentive 



78 New York to the Orient. 



to all strangers, and of course look especially 
after the welfare of Americans. 

It is much to be regretted that the President 
has appointed an Arab as Mr. Merrill's successor, 
and especially as he seems to be a man without 
character or reliability. He has just arrived 
from America. But it seems that he has not 
been confirmed by the Senate, and everybody 
here is hoping that he will not be. But even if 
he should be confirmed, it is stated that the sul- 
tan will not recognize him as American minister, 
because he becomes a Turkish subject the moment 
he touches the soil here, as he has only been ab- 
sent in America some six or seven years. So it 
is almost sure that Mr. Merrill will remain at his 
post for some time, and all here who know him 
best, and are fully acquainted with the facts, sin- 
cerely hope that no one may be sent to replace 
him. He is in every way admirably adapted to 
fill the position, and has been here just long 
enough to become acquainted with its duties, 
and, moreover, he takes a great interest in the 
country and its resources, and is making strenu- 
ous efforts for its development by endeavoring 
to inaugurate an exchange of products between 
Palestine and America. Besides, he is quite a 
scientist, and is making a fine ornithological col- 



New York to the Orient, 



lection, wliicli is already extensive, and contains 
many rare specimens. It seems a great pity that 
onr capable and level-headed President should 
disturb such a man in such a position, and, from 
his well-known views on the question of civil 
service, there can be little doubt that this re- 
moval has been made without fully realizing the 
facts of the case. 



LETTER VII. 



Further Descriptions in and about Jerusalem — Solomon*s Temple 
— Mosque of Omar — The Holy Rock where Abraham Offered 
up Isaac — Mosque of El Aksa — Christ's Cradle — Church of 
the Sepulchre — Warring Sects — The Hill of Calvary — Other 
Sacred Spots and Relics — Remarkable Ruins — Church of St. 
Ann — Pool of Bethesda — Tombs of the Kings — The Brook 
Kedron — Mount of Olives — Pool of Siloam and other Sacred 
Places — The German Colony — Back to Jaffa. 

Jaffa, Dec. 80, 1885. 

^^^HE limits allowed in which to record the 
impressions of a traveller visiting these 
sacred places necessarily preclude anything 
like a historical sketch of them. The subject 
has been exhaustively treated by many diffe- 
rent writers, who have made long and critical 
examinations of the different localities, aided by 
the extensive excavations that have been made 
deep down below the surface of the modern city. 
The oblong space known as the Haram claims 
the special attention of the visitor from the un- 
doubted fact that it contains somewhere within 
its limits the site of the original temple built by 
Solomon. The Haram occupies something like 

one-sixth of the area of the entire city within 

80 



New York to the Orient. 8i 



the walls, and is situated in the southeast corner 
thereof. 

Having fulfilled the necessary conditions to 
secure our entrance to the enclosure, we pro- 
ceed thither with our dragoman, a soldier fur- 
nished by the Turkish authorities, and the ca- 
wass of the American Consul. We first visit 
the Mosque of Omar, which is the chief point 
of attractioi], and stands nearly in the centre of 
the space comj)rising the Haram. This was the 
spot selected by Solomon for the erection of 
the great temple, and by David for the erection 
of an altar, and is claimed to have been the 
place of sacrifice as far back as the time of 
Abraham. 

The principal point of interest is the immense 
natural rock which is situated directly under 
the dome of the mosque. This is called the 
Holy Rock. It is about sixty feet long by forty 
feet wide, and stands some six feet higher than 
the marble pavement of the mosque. From time 
immemorial it has been regarded as a sacred 
rock. The Jews have a tradition that it was 
the altar upon which Abraham was about to 
sacrifice Isaac. They also believe that the ark 
of the covenant once rested here, and that it 
now lies buried somewhere near. The Moham- 



82 New York to the Orient. 



medaiis believe that tins rock hangs over an 
abyss without any support, and that it is the 
centre of the world. 

There is a large excavation under the centre 
of the rock, a room occupying an area equal 
to more than half the size of the rock itself, 
which we enter by steps leading down into it. 
It has evidently been excavated from the solid 
rock, as the great rock itself forms its roof, and 
the floor is also rock. The sides are enclosed 
by an artificial wall, evidently not of stone. 
The attendant tapped on this partition to show 
us that it was hollow beyond, and to corro- 
borate the claim that the great rock hangs in 
mid-air with no support. But he was careful 
not to give us a glimpse behind this partition 
to enable us to see whether the rock had any 
visible support. His faith was evidently strong 
enough to convince Mm that it had not ; but 
we unbelievers strongly suspected that the great 
rock would be found to have some connection 
with the adjoining mass of rock. There is a 
large hole through which Mohammed ascended 
into heaven on his favorite horse after he had 
prayed here. The Mohammedans tell many 
other wonderful stories about this great rock. 
On the four sides of the cave, under the rock, 



Nezu York to tJie Orient, 



83 



the guide shows us four altars, said to belong 
to David, Solomon, Abraham, and Elijah. 

The Mosque of Omar is a very old building, 
and the architecture is most satisfying and har- 
monious. The windows and the mosaics are 
exceedingly rich. The latter are composed of 
small cubes of colored glass, and this work dates 
from the tenth and eleventh centuries. Tlie win- 
dows bear the name of Soliman, and date 1628. 
We are shown, under a small tower, the foot- 
print of Mohammed, also some hairs from his 
beard. 

Within the Haram enclosure is the Mosque 
of El Aksa, also a very old and remarkable pile. 
The basement is specially interesting, and con- 
tains wonderful massive masonry and pillars. 
K'ear by we descend a long flight of steps and 
enter a small Mohammedan chapel, where we are 
shown the cradle of Christ, cut out of stone. 
This place was also, according to the legend, 
the dwelling of the aged Simeon. The Virgin 
is said to have spent a short time here after the 
presentation in the temple. At another angle 
of the grounds, and deep down under the sur- 
face, are the stables of Solomon, consisting of 
spacious vaults, twenty-eight feet high, and rest- 
ing upon one hundred stone pillars. 



84 Nezv York to the Orient. 



We visit tlie Church of the Sepulchre, around 
which cluster so many interesting associations, a 
point of extraordinary attraction to all tourists. 
There are various, probably mythical, stories 
told of the buildings that have been erected 
here and destroyed between the time of Christ 
and the present period, and it is stated that the 
foundations of the present structure were laid by 
the Crusaders. Among these stories, historians 
assert that Helena, the mother of Constantine, 
being divinely inspired, discovered not only the 
holy sepulchre but the cross of Christ on this 
spot ; and we are shown the very room where 
the cross was found, and a seat at the side 
wdiere Helena sat and directed the workmen who 
were making the excavations. 

The present structure is only in part the work 
of the Crusaders. Having been seriously injured 
by a fire in 1808, the dome fell in and crushed 
the sepulchre. The Greeks and Armenians to- 
gether rebuilt the church and restored the sep- 
ulchre. These two sects, together with the Ro- 
man Catholics, now control the building and the 
sepulchre. These three sects all raise their ban- 
ners over the holy sepulchre, and are always 
ready to fight for the control. Indeed, on feast 
days, and especially at Easter, the Turkish gov- 



New York to the Oj'ient, 85 



ernment surround the sepulchre with a double 
cordon of soldiers, to prevent the Christians from 
murdering each other in their frantic eJfforts to 
secure precedence. 

This dissension among the Christian sects, of 
which there are nine in Jerusalem altogether, 
is scandalous, and is especially noticed by all 
travellers. Tbey cannot agree, even in so small 
a matter as the time of their church clocks. 
Each party asks the others to adoj^t their time, 
and all stoutly refuse. So there are so many 
kinds of time in the city that great confusion 
is the consequence. One is very apt, in view 
of these and kindred facts, to wonder how long 
it will take to convert the world to Christianity. 

Only a few feet from the tomb, and in the 
same large room, is the hill of Calvary. This 
is a kind of gallery, fourteen and a half feet 
higher than the floor of the church ; and al- 
though the church has been, at least once, de- 
vastated by fire, and although this gallery or 
platform, now called Mount Calvary, has been 
built upon the spot, and evidently must be 
many feet from the original ground, as it is 
Avell known that the city which stood here at 
that date was far below the Jerusalem of to- 
day, yet they show the very hole in the rock 



86 New York to the Orient. 



in Avhicli the cross of Christ was inserted, as 
Avell as of those of the crosses on which the 
two thieves w^ere crucified, each about five feet 
distance. 

There seems to have been an effort to cluster 
under the roof of this church as many of the 
sacred spots and relics as possible, and in many 
respects the effort appears to have been strained. 
A few of these places and objects are mentioned 
below to convey some idea of the claims made 
in this regard: ''Tlie place of division," where 
the soldiers cast lots for His garments ; the tomb 
of Joseph of Arimathea ; the tomb of Nicode- 
mus ; the Chapel of the Apparition ; fragments 
of the pillar where Christ sat when they put the 
crown of thorns on His head ; the grated window 
where Mary stood and looked upon Christ on 
the cross ; the ''rent" in the rock ; the tomb of 
Adam ; the spot where the earth was taken of 
which Adam was made ; the sword and spears 
of the chief of the Crusaders. These, and many 
other similar things, are shown and explained 
in detail. 

Leaving the church, we now visit several other 
interesting localities within the city walls. The 
Via Dolorosa represents the path travelled by 
Christ bearing His cross, along which are point- 



New York to the Orient, 



87 



ed out the different stations : the place where His 
mother looked upon her Son as He passed, bear- 
ing the cross, the places where He fell under the 
weight of the cross, the print of His hand on the 
stone wall against which He pressed it as He 
fell, etc. 

We next visit some remarkable ruins, called 
the Hospital of the Knights of Saint John," 
which have been unveiled by recent excavations. 
At one point we could see below the surface 
two stories of arches, each at least twenty feet 
high, and near by two similar arches above 
ground, all having been disclosed by digging 
from the surface. This gives a vivid glimpse 
of what ancient Jerusalem was, and a hint where 
to look for it. 

Near by is the Church of St. Ann, the mother 
of the Virgin Mary. Here the very spot where 
the Virgin was born is marked by a small chapel. 
Opposite the latter and against the city wall is 
the Pool of Bethesda, now simply a vast de- 
pression some fifty feet deep, with no* water, 
and at present used as a receptacle of the filth 
and debris of the city streets, and so being 
gradually filled up. We were also shown 
"the house of Caiphas, the high- priest," where 
Christ was brought and imprisoned, and the 



88 



New York to the Orient, 



stone which the angel rolled away from the 
mouth of the tomb. The city is full of simi- 
lar places, each having its clearly- defined le- 
gend, which the people apx)ear to implicitly ac- 
cept, partly, perhaps, from its having become 
an ''oft-told tale." 

Passing out of the Jaffa gate, we now make 
an entire circuit of the city, visiting several 
places worthy of mention, in the following or- 
der: '' The tombs of the kings," which are won- 
derful specimens of patient working, being exca- 
vated from solid rock far down below the sur- 
face. They have long since been rifled of their 
contents. The hill of Calvar}^, supposed to be 
the real Golgotha. Jeremiah's cave, now a 
Mohammedan burying-ground. Quarries under 
the city, very extensive and interesting, said to 
contain a mile of subterranean chambers. Tiie 
brook Kedron (in the valley of Jehoshaphat), 
now entirely dry ; no longer '' the sweet, gliding 
Kedron." 

Crossing the Kedron, we come to the tomb of 
the Virgin, which is held in great reverence. It 
is reached by passing down a long flight of wide 
stone stei)s. In the same enclosure we are shown 
the tomb of the mother of the Virgin and the 
tomb of Joseph. 



New York to the Orient. 89 



We next come to the place where Stephen 
was stoned. The Garden of Gethsemane is a 
spot of exceeding interest, a small, square en- 
closure of about half an acre, surrounded by a 
wall, and nicely cared for by the Latin monks 
who are in charge. It contains several large and 
very old olive-trees, said to have stood there since 
the time of Christ, also beds of flowers which 
are cultivated by the monks. The place where 
the Lord ''found His disciples sleeping" is near 
by. 

We now ascend the Mount of Olives, a very 
high hill, commanding a fine view of Jerusalem, 
as well as of the Dead Sea in the distance. There 
is no question about the authenticity of this 
spot, and so one feels that he is indeed tread- 
ing on sacred ground. An adjoining height 
is pointed out as the camping-ground of Titus 
when he besieged Jerusalem. 

Descending the hill we come to the tombs of 
Absalom and Jehoshaphat, and passing the Pool 
of Siloam we enter the city again by the Jaffa 
gate. We have spent a week in Jerusalem, and 
have visited most of the sacred places, but of 
course we have made in that brief space only 
a cursory examination of them. 

Before leaving the city we make a visit to 



90 New York to the Orient. 



tlie German colony, whicli is located abont one 
mile from tlie city proper, in the direction of 
Betlileliem. This is a branch of the colony set- 
tled at Haifa, of whicli I propose to speak in 
a future letter. They are a very worthy and 
reliable people, industrious and thriving. Every- 
thing about their settlement is in striking con- 
trast with all that surrounds them. They have 
commenced the manufacture of wines on a some- 
what extensive scale, have built large vaults, and 
are already exporting it to Europe and America 
in considerable quantities. A New York house 
keeps several brands of these wines, and finds 
a ready sale for them. 

Leaving the city and returning to the sea-coast 
by the same route that we came, we take a last, 
lingering look" before we descend the moun- 
tains that intervene, and in nine hours we are 
once more at Jaffa. 



LETTER VIIL 



From Haifa to N'azareth— First View of the City— At the 
Latin Convent and Monastery— The House and Kitchen 
of the Virgin — Church of the Annunciation — A Lesson for 
Christians of Europe and America — Old Greek Church — 
The Well of Mary— Orphan Asylum for Girls — Back to the 
Dirty City — Among the Native Artisans — An Arab Wed- 
ding — Cana of Galilee — The New Church there. 

Haifa, January 10, 1886. 

IN conformity with our purpose of visiting 
]S"azareth we make up a little party at 
this place, which is situated on the bay of 
Acre, and leave early in the morning by a very 
fair wagon-road, which was made about ten 
years since by the Grerman colonists of Haifa. 
About one hour's ride brings us to the bridge 
crossing Kishon, a small, sluggish stream which 
empties into the Mediterranean Sea near Haifa, 
the waters of which were once reddened with 
the blood of the four hundred prophets of Baal 
whom Elijah slew on the eastern slope of Mount 
Carmel, at a point near which the river runs,, 
Passing on to the plain of Acre, as it is called, 

through which the Kishon runs, and which is 

9« 



92 Nczv York to the Orient. 



so unliealtliy that the road over which we have 
to travel had to be abandoned for a time be- 
cause the workmen nearly all fell sick of fever, 
another hour brings us to the hilly region, on 
the other side of the plain. We take our lunch, 
in true primitive style, under tlie shade of a 
venerable oak, and passing, as we journey on- 
wards, several small villages, at length we reach 
a large spring, which, at the moment, presents 
a truly Oriental picture, being surrounded by 
tlie dwellers of Nazareth, who come for their 
supplies of water, the women with water-pots 
upon their heads, exactly in the style of two 
thousand years ago, and the men and boys 
with donkeys carrying each two large jugs, 
which is no doubt considered a modern inno- 
vation. Our craving for a drink of this water, 
which is said to be excellent, is somewhat abated 
on seeing several rather untidy-looking women 
washing dirty clothes on one side of the foun- 
tain, while the villagers are filling their vessels 
with drinking-water from the other side, at a 
distance of perhaps six feet away. It is highly 
improbable that the idea has ever entered the 
heads of any of the frequenters of the spring 
that there can possiblj^ be any connection be- 
tween the functions daily performed on the op- 



Nezv York to the Orient. 93 



posite sides ; hence Ave may rationally conclude 
that their powers of ratiocination are not of a 
very high order. 

Passing on we come, in a few minutes, in sight 
of the city of Nazareth. The first view in ap- 
proaching from this direction is disappointing, 
as we see only a small portion of the place. 
We soon find ourselves at the door of the 
Latin Convent, the only place in the city that 
entertains travellers, where we gain admission 
and find ourselves in charge of a pale, sickly- 
looking monk who is to minister to our wants 
during our visit. Unluckily we find that we liave 
arrived on a fast- day, and before our brief visit 
is completed we realize that the ordinary bill of 
fare, which is not luxurious, has been much en- 
croached upon. Bu t no doubt we fare as well 
as do the monks themselves, although we cease 
to wonder why they look so pale and puny. 
We are served witli a hearty good-will, and 
see no sign of greediness or desire to make 
the most out of us. The monk who waits on 
us served in the late war, and has two German 
bullets in his body. 

The Latin Monastery stands opj)osite, and en- 
closes within its high walls the Church of the 
Annunciation, The building has considerable 



94 



New York to the Orient. 



claims to architectural beauty, and possesses 
many sacred relics. The principal one is the 
''House of the Virgin," where she lived with 
Joseph after the return from Egypt, and where 
she concealed the young Child during the 
time Herod was slaughtering the children. It 
is a kind of cave carved out of rock, beneath 
the church, and is reached by steps through 
a dark passage, cut down through the solid 
rock. ISTear this room was a smaller one, also 
subterranean, called the Kitchen of the Vir- 
gin," with a hole at the top for the egress of 
smoke. The priests are mostly Italians. 

Our visit occurred during the service on Sun- 
day morning, and we became much interested in 
the performance of Mass, which is intoned by 
the priests, producing in a striking manner the 
effect of a chime of bells. One bass voice in par- 
ticular was really grand, being very strong and 
sonorous, which seemed to form a kind of foun- 
dation for all the other voices, as they all rung 
the changes together, producing the various tones 
represented by the chimes. The performance 
serves to produce an effect that will long ring 
in our ears and live in our memories. 

As we stand among the worshippers, listening to 
these entrancing strains, we are struck with the 



New York to the Orient. 95 



sharp contrast between the scene before ns and 
that witnessed in a fashionable church in Europe 
or America. Here there are no pews where the 
humble are not welcome ; but the humblest and 
the grandest all mingle in the worship, and are 
all equal before God. Here is a lesson which 
may well be copied from the hoary old Roman 
Catholic Church. 

We now visit the old Greek Church, built over 
the Well of Mary," a fine Gothic interior, pro- 
fusely decorated with, paintings and containing 
much old and elaborate carving, also many artis- 
tically-painted glass lanterns, silver and cut-glass 
chandeliers, etc. The well is within the church, 
and is approached by a flight of stone steps. 
The attendant priest draws some water in a 
small silver bucket, and very pure and excel- 
lent drinking-water it is. This is the only 
spring in Nazareth, and the water is conduct- 
ed in a conduit a considerable distance to a 
fountain, around which is daily enacted the 
characteristic scenes which may at any time 
be witnessed at an Oriental fountain. There 
can be little doubt that the Virgin Mother and 
the child Jesus were regular visitors to this 
spring, and the interest inspired by a visit to 
the scene now daily transpiring here is greatly 



g6 New York to the Orient. 



increased by the fact that it is very similar to 
that enacted on the same spot eighteen hundred 
years ago. 

We enjoy very much a visit to the Orphan 
Asylum for Girls, which is situated near the 
top of the very high hill back of the town. It 
seems to be a most admirable institution, plant- 
ed as it is in the very midst of darkness and 
misery. The little waifs of humanity are gath- 
ered in and taught, and loved, and sustained, 
thus practically illustrating the sentiment which 
forms the warp and woof of the utterances and 
the life of Christ, who lived here and walked 
these streets nearly thirty years of His life. 

The view from the hill back of the asylum is . 
magnificent. To the left in the distance lies the 
village of Nain, where Christ raised the widow's 
son. Farther still we trace distinctly the valley 
of the Jordan, beyond which rise the mountains 
of Gilead. To the right and far away lies the 
plain of Esdrselon. 

It is now near night and we return to the city 
to spend one more night in its pestilential at- 
mosphere. We have visited many places that 
are dirty and malodorous in this country, but 
Nazareth is the worst of all in this respect. 
There is no underground drainage, no attempt 



New York to the Orient, 



97 



to organize or observe sanitary laws. All the 
filth is thrown into the streets, and there it 
lies festering in the sun's heat, and the entire 
city smells like a pest-house. The terrible efflu- 
via is everywhere present — indoors and out, 
night and day. 

Our room in tlie convent faces a kind of square 
or open place in the principal street in the city, 
and the picture, as we look out upon it at this 
moment, is most extraordinary. Some forty or 
fifty persons, mainly children of both sexes, are 
clustering round a w^agon which has just arrived 
tilled with visitors, who have come to claim the 
hospitality of the monks. Their garb has all the 
colors of the rainbow, and more types of style 
than you could cull from the fashion plates of 
a hundred years. 

The street is, of course, filled with filth, yet no 
one seems to notice it in the least, and the odors 
that rise from the seething mass fill all the air ; 
but the natives are blissfully ignorant of all this, 
and, should this letter fall under their eye, they 
would, no doubt, roundly abuse me for malign- 
ing their beautiful city. 

The sidewalk along the convent-yard is occu- 
pied by a score or more of native artisans, each 
with his tools grouped around him as he sits on 



98 New York to the Orient, 

the pavement. One is making tinware, another 
repairing old domestic utensils, another making 
or repairing shoes, etc., etc. Near this group is 
a street-blacksmith shoeing a refractory mule, 
just beyond him the barber is pursuing his pro- 
fession, and so on. All tlie mechanical appli- 
ances and methods are just the same as they 
were eighteen centuries ago. I have purchased 
some pocket-knives made by one of these arti- 
sans, as he sits on the sidewalk with his rude 
tools lying around him, which I intend to take 
to America, and which admirably illustrate the 
above statement. 

An Arab wedding occurred in town the even- 
ing of our arrival, and, to the rather character- 
istic manner they have here of celebrating such 
an event, we are indebted for two comparatively 
sleepless nights. The friends of the wedded 
pair bring to them, for a period of one week, 
all kinds of food and drink ready prepared for 
the table, with which they entertain all who call 
upon them. The couple are thus free from the 
care of house-keeping for that length of time. 

The male friends and relatives parade the 
streets at night with torches, singing, and firing 
off guns during a whole week, continuing the din 
far into and sometimes all night. Last night 



Nezv York to the Orient, 



99 



we were awakened at two o' clock as they passed 
the convent. The music is very peculiar, being 
confined to one tone, one group singing and 
another echoing from a distance, the effect of 
which is peculiarly weird. 

While at Nazareth we make a horseback jour- 
ney of one hour, by a very rough road over the 
mountains, to visit ^'Cana of Galilee." The 
main point of interest here is the spot where 
Christ performed the miracle of turning the 
water into wine at the marriage-feast. A beau- 
tiful new church has been built on the spot, with 
the following inscription over the door ; and I 
have copied the words, as nearly as possible, as 
they are carved upon the stone : 

HIC 

lESrS CHEISTYS 
DE AQYA VmVM PROTVLIT. 

On our return to Nazareth, as we reach the 
top of the mountain, we have a magnificent view 
of the city. We now resume our wagon and 
return to the sea- coast by the same route as we 
came. 



LETTER IX. 



A Visit to Mount Carmel— The Cave of Elijah—Site of the An- 
cient City of Sycaminum — Rock Caves — Carmelite Monas- 
tery — The Mahkraka — Hill of the Priests — A Sacred Grove—- 
A Legend Thereof — At the Druse Village of Dalieh — Some 
of their Customs — A Primitive Method of Divorce — Ruins 
of Thirty Cities in Mount Carmel — Honeycombed with 
Tombs, etc. 

Dalieh, January 15, 1886. 

*TfT^ ROB ABLY there is no place on the sur- 
4 i " ■ face of the globe fraught with more in- 
terest to the student of Scripture history than 
Mount Carmel, or to which such well-attested 
traditions of sanctity attach. These traditions 
come down to us through the various forms of 
truth and superstition, and cover a period em- 
bracing not only the whole of the Christian era, 
but many centuries of earlier history. It has 
been a sacred mountain from time immemorial. 
The traditions respecting the Prophet Elijah 
seem to be very clear and distinct, and the two 
extremes of the mountain, which are fourteen 
miles apart, contain spots which are still held 
in the highest veneration, as having been the 



New York to the Orient. loi 



arenas of some of tlie most remarkable events 
connected with his career. 

The reputed cave of Elijah is situated near the 
shore of the Mediterranean Sea, and not far from 
the most western point of Mount Carmel, which 
here forms an abrupt promontory some five hun- 
dred feet in height. It is in the possession of 
the Roman Catholics. The real cave of Elijah, 
however, is several hundred feet lower down and 
near the shore of the sea, and it is frequently 
visited by Mohammedans, Jews, and Druses, 
who come to celebrate their observances here 
by processions and by offering sacrifices of sheep 
and goats. They often spend the entire night 
in festivity and dancing, presenting a very pic- 
turesque scene when witnessed by the light of 
their camp-fires. Even the wild Bedouins of 
the desert often come from beyond the Jordan 
to join in these sacred rites, the men on their 
wild steeds, and the women upon camels with 
their faces concealed. 

A short distance to the south of the cave, on 
a rock plateau projecting into the sea, is a mound 
said to mark the ancient city of Sycaminum, and 
the numerous prostrate granite columns and 
carved marble fragments, capitals, and pedes- 
tals scattered around serve to confirm the idea. 



I02 New York to the Orient, 



Here, too, are found many caves cut out of 
the solid rock, said, at a remote period, to have 
been inhabited by hermits, and used, at a hiter 
period, by the Crusaders as sentry-boxes. High 
up above, by an almost perpendicular ascent, 
stands the Carmelite Monastery, upon an abrupt 
promontory^ and nearly five hundred feet above 
the level of the sea. The buildings first erected 
upon this spot seem to have been occupied by 
monks from the earliest days. Those novi^ stand- 
ing were erected on the old foundations in 1828, 
and may be seen at a great distance as the coast 
is approached from the Mediterranean. The 
monks are in the habit of accommodating tra- 
vellers, and reserve a certain number of beds 
for that purpose. 

We now descend to the plain below by a long, 
shelving road cut into the side of the mountain, 
at the foot of which we pass the settlement of 
the German Colony. We propose to make the 
circuit of the mountain, making note of such 
points as may seem best calculated to command 
the popular attention. After leaving the G-er- 
man Colony we pass through the suburbs of 
Haifa, where we observe a fine grove of palm- 
trees. They are without branches to the height 
of sixty or seventy feet. At this point, which 



New York to the Orient. 103 



is the top of the trunks, the branches, in a clus- 
ter, spread out in all directions, and many of 
them are twenty-five or thirty feet long. As we 
pass the grove a strong wind is blowing, and the 
waving of the branches and the sound produced 
by the wind passing through them is grand in- 
deed. 

We skirt the plain of Acre, and about one 
hour's ride brings us to the village of Sheik, 
which contains several fine groves of olive-trees. 
A ride of some two hours from this point, up 
the precipitous side of the mountain and along 
its summit, brings us to its eastern terminus, a 
point of the greatest interest, although very sel- 
dom visited by tourists. It seems strange that 
Mount Carmel, with such a wondrous history, 
carved deep into its surface, should not be more 
frequented by travellers, especially as it is so 
accessible, being immediately on the coast. 

On the brow of the mountain, at the extreme 
eastern end of the Carmel range, is a spot called 
the Mahkraka (burnt-offering), where Elijah 
seized the prophets of Baal, after the descent 
of the fire from heaven in answer to his prayer. 
From the top of this building, which is sixteen 
hundred feet above the plain of Esdrselon, we 
have one of the most magnificent panoramic 



I04 New York to the Orient, 



views to be witnessed anywhere in the w^oiid. 
About fourteen hundred feet below, and almost 
immediately under our feet, stands the ''hill of 
the priests," where the four hundred false proph- 
ets were slain. This hill is situated on the banks 
of the Kishon ; hence this stream is said to have 
been choked by the carcasses of the slain proph- 
ets, and its waters reddened by their blood. 

Directly in front and extending far to the 
right lies the plain of Esdrselon. The valley of 
the Jordan can be distinctly traced from this 
point, and the high range of mountains beyond 
meet the distant horizon. In the same direction 
we see N^azareth and Safed, Mt. Tabor, Little 
Hermon, Mt. Gilboa, and Mt. Gilead. Further 
to the right lie Galilee and Samaria. To the left 
lies the city of Acre, with its beautiful bay, and 
in the distance double-peaked Mt. Hermon, cov- 
ered with its mantle of white. We gain a view 
here of almost every point of note in Galilee. 

We turn our faces westward, and as our 
horses, well used to these rough paths, pass 
on through the valleys and over the mountain- 
tops we find many points of interest. To the 
right is a cluster of forty large trees, which is 
regarded as a sacred glwe. The legend concern- 
ing them is that forty Moslem sheiks were mas- 



New York to the Orient. 105 

sacred here, and that these forty trees were 
pkmted to commemorate the event, and that any 
one who should attempt to cut them down would 
forfeit his life. It is said that tw^o men, father 
and son, undertook to fell one of them, and both 
died on the spot. 

We see in passing many Arab shepherds, with 
their variegated and tattered garb and bare legs ; 
for the mountain is the pasture-ground for all 
their animals. Many camels are thus pastured 
when not in use bearing their burdens. During 
this trip along the top of the Carmel range we 
passed several encampments of Bedouin Arabs, 
with their black camels. They group their 
tents in larger or smaller numbers, according 
as they find pasturage for their animals, abun- 
. dant or otherwise, at the spot selected. In some 
parts of our journey we followed the paths that 
have been used for centuries, and in many places 
the feet of the animals have cut a narrow track 
out of the solid stone from six to ten feet deep. 

Being on the very back-bone of the mountain, 
we look down, at many points sixteen hundred or 
seventeen hundred feet, upon the plain through 
which the sluggish Kishon winds its way to the 
sea, and across to the mountains of northern 
Galilee. To-day it is so clear that we can plain- 



io6 Nezv York to the Orient. 



ly see several snow-capped summits of tlie Le- 
banon range far beyond Mount Hermon, which 
is at least eighty miles away. The bay of Acre, 
with its graceful curve, lies almost at our feet, 
and the broad Mediterranean stretches far away to 
the distant horizon, with no prow ploughing its 
bosom and no sail whitening its surface as we look. 

We now arrive at the Druse village of Dalieh. 
Some two hundred and fifty years ago the fa- 
mous warrior Fahkr-ed-Deen planted his first 
Druse settlement here, and at one period they 
numbered four thousand in Carmel. Only two 
villages remain of the eight formerly here — Dalieh 
and Esfia — containing together about eight hun- 
dred people. The Druses have many singular 
customs. They observe great secrecy in their re- 
ligious rites, and never tolerate the presence of a 
stranger in their place of worship. Hence little 
is known of their religious belief and practices. 
They are subjected to many cruel exactions and 
merciless persecutions by the Turkish govern- 
ment, and seem to be powerless to defend them- 
selves against their Moslem neighbors. Their 
persecutions have, no doubt, made them ami- 
able, for they are said to be a much more agree- 
able people to live among than either the Chris- 
tians or Mohammedans. 



New York to the Orient, 107 



In company with a gentleman who resides at 
Haifa, and who has a summer residence near 
Dalieh, I made a visit to the spiritual sheik. 
His house is built of stone, with a solid stone 
floor, and has but two apartments — one for the 
family and one for the animals, all under one 
roof and in close proximity. As their flocks 
and herds are large, and the room in this part 
of the house is limited, only the more domes- 
tic animals are sheltered here. As this is a 
genuine Eastern house, it affords an excellent 
idea of the kind of place in which Christ was 
born. 

We are received with great dignity and made 
most welcome. As the only article of furniture 
in the house is the rug which is spread upon the 
floor for us to sit upon, we proceed to occupy it 
with all the grace and dignity we can command, 
with the full consciousness that we cannot vie 
with our host in this regard, as he assumes the 
same position upon the floor in front of us. 
With true politeness he strives to make us feel 
at our ease, and, after a brief interview (my 
friend could converse with him in Arabic), dur- 
ing which Turkish coffee is served in delicate 
little cups, we begin to feel quite Oriental. Later 
in the day our host returns the call at the resi- 



ic8 New York to the Orient. 



dence of iny friend, who seats himself on the 
floor with his guest while the coffee is served, 
thus relieving him from the embarrassment of 
attempting to sit in a European chair. 

The Druse religion is said by their enemies to 
allow certain gross immoralities and cruel prac- 
tices ; but they keep everything so secret that 
little can be known except what may be inferred 
from their outward lives and manners. 

We are forcibly struck with the evidences we 
see on every hand that this mountain was once 
thickly populated, and it is supposed that the 
range at one time contained fifty thousand peo- 
ple. My friend, who has had large experience 
in making explorations, has already discovered 
the ruins of thirty cities in Mount Carmel, many 
of them very extensive, and the ground may al- 
most be said to be honeycombed with tombs and 
water-cisterns. In making the excavations for 
the foundations of his house at Dalieh the w^ork- 
men came upon the wall of an ancient structure, 
and, after the house was completed and a small 
elevation was being removed to level the ground 
around it, he discovered the mouth of a cistern 
which was filled with debris. As it was located 
just where he required a cistern for rain-water, 
he had it cleared of the rubbish (hundreds of 



New York to the Orient, 109 



loads Avere taken out), and the result was an im- 
mense cistern, excavated from solid rock, and in 
every way adapted to liis purpose. 

As Dalieh. is situated at the liead of a valley 
leading to tlie base of the mountain, we pass 
down by a well-trodden path and reach the shore 
of the Mediterranean at Athlit, an extensive ruin, 
celebrated as the last stronghold surrendered by 
the Crusaders, and after a ride of five miles 
reach the village of Tareh, which is inhabited by 
a band of turbulent and predatory Moslems, who 
are the terror of their neighbors, and especially 
of the Druses. They have approi3riated most of 
their lands by force. During the last few years, 
however, they have been less troublesome than 
formerly, the increasing population and advanc- 
ing civilization of the neighborhood having es- 
sentially curbed their predatory instincts. 

Proceeding northward, one hour' s ride brings 
us to the promontory crowned by the convent, 
thus completing the circuit of the mountain. 



LETTER X. 



Haifa and Acre— Delightful Winter Weather— Cheap Fruit— The 
Olive Crop — The Features of Haifa— Enterprise of its Ger- 
man Colony — Their Persecutions — Monumental Manure- 
Heaps — Acre, One of the Oldest Cities in the World— Be- 
sieged Seventeen Times — The Rivers Kishon and Belus — 
Discovery of Glass — Jezzar, the Butcher Pasha of Acre, etc., 
etc. 

Haifa, January 20, 1885. 

' g I 'S we are about to take leave of this won- 
^^"'^ derful historic land, our last word shall 
be from Haifa and Acre, which are situated on 
opposite sides of the beautiful bay of Acre, from 
which we are to embark in a few days on our 
long journey homeward. Doubtless you are, in 
America, in the midst of winter at this moment. 
This is what they call winter here, too, but it 
has none of the characteristics of our northern 
winters. The mercury ranges from fifty-five to 
seventy degrees, and within the last two weeks, 
since the rains commenced, the fields are clothed 
in green. The farmers are ploughing and sowing 
their seed, and we have, in fact, a duplicate of 
our most beautiful spring weather. Fresh vege- 



New York to the Orient. 1 1 1 



tables are abundant and very cheap, and the 
orange-trees are loaded with their luscious fruit. 
Within one rod of the door we pick from the 
trees our before-breakfast oranges. 

Fruits are very cheap here. Passing through 
the market a few days ago, as we were starting 
on an excursion, we purchased thirteen splendid 
oranges for one piastre — less than four cents. A 
like sum of money will purchase enough bunches 
of crisp radishes to fill a half-bushel measure. 
Some of these grow to an enormous size — as 
large as a quart wine-bottle. 

The principal crop is grain, immense quantities 
of which are brought to the coast on camels and 
donkeys, for shipment. The principal fruits are 
oranges, lemons, grapes, figs, and olives, all of 
which are largely exported. There are many 
very extensive olive-groves. I have seen several, 
which were planted by the Crusaders during the 
eleventh and twelfth centuries, which are still 
bearing fruit, though six or seven hundred years 
old. Some of these old trees have gradually 
rotted away on the inside, leaving the outside 
of the trunk in distinct parts, looking almost 
like a group of trees, the branches above still 
bearing fruit. 

The olive crop is rather uncertain on account 



112 New York to the Orient. 



of the sirocco, which sometimes prevails just 
as the buds are forming, and totally ruins the 
crop. Exactly this hapj)ened last year, and 
there was no olive-oil made. Hence the Arabs 
and others who make the oil usually keep on 
hand a year's supply to meet such a contingency. 
The oil produced by the Arabs is of poor qua- 
lity, as they are careless in their methods. A 
limited quantity of superior quality is made in 
this vicinity, which is nearly all sent to America, 
and which is much sought for there, as it is 
beyond question pure olive-oil ; and those who 
understand the facts best know how difficult it 
is to get in the market an oil that is not adul- 
terated either with cotton-seed or some other 
vegetable substance. Indeed, the adulteration 
of this article has become so almost universal 
that dealers say that if they could give their 
customers a pure article they would object to it 
because it did not taste like that they have be- 
come accustomed to. 

The exact site of the old town of Haifa is 
somewhat involved in doubt. It is supposed to 
be identical with ancient Sycaminum, which is 
mentioned by ancient Greek and Roman authors, 
the ruins of which are located some two miles 
from the present town, which dates from the 



New York to the Orient. 113 



middle of the eighteenth century. Haifa pos- 
sesses considerable importance as a seaport town, 
and is regularly visited by the steamers of the 
Austrian-Lloyds line. It is located immediately 
at the foot of Mount Carmel, on a narrow pla- 
teau, which increases considerably in width 
towards the point on which the mountain is 
located. 

One of the most noteworthy and interesting 
features of Haifa is the settlement here of a 
group of Grermans, known as the German 
Colony. They came here some twenty -five 
years ago, being prompted to emigrate thither 
by a religious sentiment. There are three dis- 
tinct colonies of them in Palestine — at Jeru- 
salem, Jaffa, and Haifa — consisting of about one 
thousand members. The colony here numbers 
some three hundred persons, and they are in 
many respects a remarkable people. The ap- 
pearance of the part of the city they occupy is 
in striking contrast with the main town in that 
it is regularly laid out, and is clean and orderly. 
These colonists are the only people who have 
ever come to live in Palestine who are self-sup- 
porting. All others live upon the means they 
bring with them ; but the colonists, though they 
brought money with them at first, and have it 



114 New York to the Orient. 



invested in lands and different industries, now 
make tlieir living in the country, and are slowly 
gaining. They labor under great difficulties, as 
the Turkish government is very hostile to them, 
as it is to everybody who tries to introduce any 
kind of improvement into the country. The 
Carmelite monks, too, whose lands join theirs, 
are envious, jealous, and hostile towards them, 
and annoy them in all possible ways. 

They are engaged in persecuting the colonists 
at this moment, having by bribery procured an 
order from the local Turkish official, posting a 
soldier in a position on their grounds, whereby 
he becomes a serious annoyance to them. But 
with admirable patience, and with wonderful 
persistence and wisdom, they work their way 
through all difficulties, and their example is 
having a marked effect upon the neighborhood. 
Some ten years ago they built, at their own ex- 
pense, a tolerable wagon-road to Nazareth, a 
distance of twenty-two miles, and since they 
settled here have done a number of such things, 
introducing many improvements which serve to 
benefit the community as well as themselves. 

A good story is related of them, which illus- 
trates their thrift and the want of that element 
on the part of the natives here. It has been for 



New Yo7^k to the Orient. 1 1 5 



centuries tlie custom of the people of this coun- 
try to deposit the manure at the edge of their 
town in a large pile, and it is no exaggeration 
whatever to state that the manure-heap in many 
of their towns is much the most imposing struc- 
ture they can boast of, for it is the accretion of 
centuries. When the colonists first settled here 
they attacked the manure-heap and carried it all 
away in the course of the two years and spread 
it upon their lands. The natives watched them 
with curious interest, but did not take the hint 
till they carried it all away. When, however, 
they saw the wonderful crops the colonists gath- 
ered, they wanted manure too, but were too late. 
They do not now deposit it as formerly, nor do 
the colonists get it. But, strange to say, so ob- 
tuse are the people of this country, and so slowly 
does the news travel, that a knowledge of the 
above facts has not penetrated ten miles into the 
interior. On our recent journey to J^azareth we 
saw, in towns we passed, the traditional pile of 
manure. In many cases, too, it was perfectly 
evident that the lands immediately adjoining 
were suffeiing for the want of the very material 
that was so near that it could be thrown upon 
it with a shovel. 
We will now make a circuit of the bay and pay 



I T 6 Nezv York to the Orient. 



a visit to Acre, one of the oldest cities in the 
world, and the theatre of more extraordinary and 
startling events than any place of which we have 
a well-defined record. Leaving the beautiful city 
of palms to our right, we find a hard and per- 
fectly smooth road directly on the beach the 
entire distance. 

About two miles from Haifa we come to the 
mouth of the Kishon, which we recognize at once 
by its pestilential odors. Although this is the 
second river in magnitude in Palestine (the Jor- 
dan only being larger), during most of the dry 
seasons it discharges no water into the sea, the 
mouth being blocked by a bank of sand, and 
the water formed into pools and lagoons on the 
plain above, thus rendering the neighborhood 
unhealthy. 

Much of the way the shore is thickly strewn 
with small shells. From one species of these the 
Phoenicians in ancient times used to extract the 
famous Tyrian purple, a very minute quantity 
of which was found in a small vessel in the throat 
of the fish inhabiting the shell. These prickly 
shells are still found in limited numbers, and are 
very beautiful. Just before we reach Acre we 
cross the mouth of a small river called the Belus. 
It was at this point, on the shores of the river. 



New York to the O^Hent. 



117 



that glass was first discovered. Some Roman sol- 
diers encamped here observed that the sea-sand 
under their camp-fires vitrified, and from this 
arose the manufacture of glass. 

Seventeen different sieges of Acre are easily 
traced, beginning with Thotmes; who invaded 
Palestine from Egypt three hundred years before 
Moses led the Israelites into Canaan. The most 
bloodj^ on record are those of the Crusaders, in 
one of which sixty thousand Christians perished. 
In the early part of this century it was besieged 
by Napoleon, whose army was driven back by 
the English fleet, under Sir Sidney Smith, upon 
which occasion the magazine blew up and eighteen 
hundred people perished. The last siege was by 
the English, fleet under Sir Charles Napier, dur- 
ing the occupation of the country by the Egyp- 
tians, who had conquered it, and whose victori- 
ous progress was then crushed, and the country 
was given back by the English to the Sultan of 
Turkey. It was on this occasion that Sir Charles 
Napier is said to have used the memorable ex- 
pression to his sailors, when they landed as a 
storming party: ''Now land, you beggars, and 
fulfil prophecy." 

At the time of the invasion of Palestine by the 
Egyptians under Ibrahim Pasha, Acre had been 



1 1 8 New York to the Orient. 



governed by the descendants of a pasha who had 
thrown off the Turkish rule and exercised an 
independent authority. The most celebrated of 
these was Jezzar, appropriately named the butch- 
er, whose career of unprecedented cruelty is 
said to have originated in the following incident : 
One day as he held his little daughter in his lap, 
and she was stroking his beard with lier hand, he 
said to her : Why do you stroke my beard % " 
She replied : ^'That is the way my mother does 
to the mamelukes." This roused his suspicion, 
and he soon gave out word that he was going 
on a journey, but he returned suddenly late 
the same night and found the mamelukes in the 
harem enjoying themselves with his wives; where- 
npon he slew with his own sword fifteen of them 
on the spot, and had every mameluke in his em- 
ploy and the entire harem put to death at once. 

After this to the end of his life he proved to 
be one of the most bloodthirsty wretches that 
ever lived. It is related that he took special 
delight in putting out the eyes and cutting off 
the noses of any of his favorites who incurred his 
displeasure. He built the mosque and other 
structures of materials brought from ruins in 
different parts of Palestine. The pillars of the 
mosqne he procured at Csesarea, and most of the 



New York to the Orie7it. 119 



stone from the ruins of Atlilit. The grounds 
around the mosque are especially harmonious 
and beautiful, one of the most marked features 
being the blending of stately palm-trees with 
numerous of these columns, which are used to 
support the fountain and other structures ad- 
joining the mosque. Jezzar Pasha also built the 
water-works and the aqueduct from the distant 
mountains, which still supplies the city with 
excellent water. His tomb is in the enclosure of 
the mosque. 

From the first Egyptian siege under Thothmes 
to the last nnder Sir Charles N"apier, forty-five 
years ago, Acre has been considered the strateget- 
ic key to Palestine. The dilapidated condition 
of the fortress and the modern inventions of 
military science have deprived it of this charac- 
ter, and it would offer no serious obstacle at the 
present day to an invading army. 

The area within the city walls is only about 
fifty acres, on which nine thousand people are 
hived, and a large part of this space is occupied 
by mosques, old towers and walls, public build- 
ings, plazas, etc., leaving one to greatly wonder 
where so many people can be stowed away, or 
how they can possibly live in so crowded and 
filthy a place. 



I20 



New York to the Orie7it. 



We now return to Haifa, and as we reach the 
portion of the place occupied by the German 
Colony we are more than ever struck with the 
sharp contrast between these Germans and the 
natives of the country. As we look at this tidy 
village, transplanted, as it were, from Europe to 
the foot of Mount Carmel, and mark the signs of 
modern husbandry upon its long neglected slopeSj 
it seems as though the first step in its regenera- 
tion is already taken, and that the dawn of a bet- 
ter period may at last be breaking after its lonely 
night of desolation and gloom." 



LETTER XI. 



Leaving Haifa — Homeward Bound — Stopping on the Way — At 
Port Said — Poor Steamers and Worse Accommodations — Is- 
maili'a — An Old and Handsomely Laid Out Town — Cairo, the 
Largest City in Africa— Street Scenes — The Khedive's and 
Other Official Residences — The Pyramids of Gizeh — Road 
Leading Thereto — The Great Pyramid of Cheops — The 
Sphinx— Old Cairo— Church of St. Mary— The Most Ancient 
Mosque in Egypt — The Island of Rhodda — Its Nileometer — 
The Citadel — Superb Mosque — An Obelisk — Ostrich Farm — 
Chateau of Gezireh, etc., etc. 

Cairo, January 25, 1886. 

FTER spending six weeks in Palestine, 
and visiting many places rendered no- 
table by the important events connected with, 
their history, of which I have endeavored to give 
some passing description that might serve as 
a kind of pen-and-ink substitute for an actual 
visit to them, I now turn my face homeward. 
As the journey will be somewhat deliberately 
executed, if I have succee.ded in interesting my 
readers in the places already described they 
may perhaps be glad to visit with me some 
others on the homeward journey. 
Leaving Haifa on the small Austrian steamer 




122 New York to the Orient, 



which touches there only twice a month, we are 
two days making the distance of some one hun- 
dred and thirty miles, as they stop at Jaffa all 
night at anchor, and, indeed, all the next day, 
and so arrive in Port Said the second day. Here 
it was as warm as summer almost. There is lit- 
tle of interest here for the traveller, as it is a re- 
cently built city, which has, in fact, sprung into 
existence since the opening of the great canal 
across the isthmus of Suez, which was completed 
in 1869. It is situated at the northern extremity 
of the Suez Canal, and has a harbor of about six 
hundred acres, which was excavated by dredg- 
ing to the depth of twenty-six feet. Large and 
small steamers, bound to and from India, are 
constantly arriving and departing. There is 
comparatively little business done here except 
that connected with shipping. Almost every 
other building is the oflBce of some steamship 
line. 

There is a line of small steamboats which 
carry the mails daily between Port Said and 
Ismailia, In one of these we embark at twelve 
o'clock at night. It is about the size and shape 
of a canal-boat, and forcibly reminds me of a 
trip made thirty-seven years ago from Harris- 
burg to Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania, when the 



New York to the Orient, 



123 



first-class passenger trade was carried on by 
those canal packets ; and they were certainly 
much more comfortable than these steam canal 
packets. During the daytime we had the whole 
space the entire length of the boat (except a 
small space for the kitchen), and at night this 
was changed into a sleeping apartment, with 
comfortable berths put up at the sides. In these 
Egyptian boats there are no berths, and only a 
very small room in one end of the boat for 
passengers, about eight feet by twelve, where 
all are crowded in together to spend the night 
as best they can. Of course it is neither clean 
nor well ventilated, and we have to pay dear 
for coming this way to see the Suez Canal, not 
only in the price of the fare, but in the discom- 
forts to be encountered. 

By six o'clock the next morning we compass 
the journey of thirty-five miles, and arrive at 
that most uncomfortable hour at Ismailia. This 
is an old town, and is very handsomely laid out, 
and, as it is located on the railroad from Suez 
to Cairo, we breakfast here and leave at noon for 
the latter place. We are glad to see a railroad 
train once more, even though we do find this 
rather a poor sj)ecimen of a road. We are six 
hours in going the seventy miles to Cairo, The 



124 New York to the Orient, 



whole equipment seems to be made up of the 
played-out rolling stock of some English rail- 
road. For the first forty miles the road leads 
through a desert, there being no vegetation what- 
soever ; but as we approach Cairo all becomes 
green and luxuriant, as we are now in the valley 
of the Mle, which here seems about twenty 
miles wide and is everywhere irrigated during 
the dry season. The soil is deep and rich, as 
black and fertile as that of our Western prairies, 
quite like what we call our rich bottom lands in 
the West. 

Cairo is much the largest city on the continent 
of Africa, having a population of some 400,000. 
It is unquestionably one of the oldest cities in 
the world. It had so large a population in the 
eleventh century that 900,000 of its inhabitants 
were swept away with the plague in the course 
of a few months. The present population is 
made up of a most extraordinary combination 
of nationalities, rendering it more cosmopolitan, 
if possible, than even Constantinople. 

Among the most interesting features here are 
the street scenes, which are exceedingly unique 
and varied, and furnish a source of never-end- 
ing amusement to the denizen of western civili- 
zation, unaccustomed as he is to Oriental scenes 



New York to the Orient. 125 



and manners. There is scarcely anything one 
sees in the East more calculated to make a last- 
ing impression than these scenes daily enacted 
in the streets of Cairo. By using a carriage for 
visiting all parts of the city we especially enjoy 
these scenes as we wind our way through the 
noisy throngs. A very prominent factor in the 
crowd are the beggars of various grades. They 
all agree in one quality — persistence. No rebuff 
or any number of them discourages them in the 
least. 

The two parts of the city are distinguished as 
Cairo and Old Cairo. The more modern part 
is well laid out, and many portions of it are well 
built^ having a clean and comfortable appearance. 
Many large and substantial villas are seen, situ- 
ated in the midst of extensive gardens filled with 
trees and shrubbery, while here and there the 
noble palm-tree presides over the surrounding 
scene with stately dignity. 

The residences of the Khedive and other dig- 
nitaries, scattered through the city, occupy with 
their extensive grounds a large amount of space, 
each surrounded by its high wall of solid ma- 
sonry. But there is no lack of room, for there 
seems to be plenty of unoccupied land within 
the city limits, which, however, is being gradu- 



126 



New York to the Orient. 



ally filled with new buildings, all of wliicli are 
built in a substantial manner of stone, and many 
of tliem with considerable pretensions to archi- 
tectural beauty. 

Let me attempt a brief account of some of 
the principal points of interest visited. First, 
the pyramids of Gizeli, which are reached by a 
carriage ride of ten miles on a wide road ele- 
vated aj30Ut twelve feet above the level of the 
fields, which are all overflowed by the waters 
of the Mle once a year. This road was con- 
structed by the government and contains two 
rows of beautiful shade-trees, leaving a charm- 
ing shaded drive in the centre the entire dis- 
tance from the city to the pyramids. Before 
entering on this road we cross the Nile on a 
substantial iron bridge, which seems to be of 
recent construction. 

At the end of this avenue the pyramids are 
approached by a rapid ascent, and as they stand 
about one hundred feet above the surrounding 
plain the view where the road begins the ascent 
is very imposing. But on a near approach the 
impression is disappointing. They have an ex- 
ceedingly rough and unfinished appearance, and 
are constructed of large stones of irregular 
shapes and sizes ; and in many places the stones 



New York to the OiHent, 



127 



are crumbling away. Several layers must Lave 
been removed from the top of the principal pyra- 
mid, as it does not come to a point, but has a 
flat space of several feet square, from which 
those who take the trouble to climb up must 
have a magnificent view. It is said to have 
been built by Cheops, one of the kings of Egypt, 
who reigned fifty years. Over 100,000 of his 
subjects were engaged parts of each year for 
some thirty years in quarrying and transporting 
the stones, and building the pyramid, which was 
intended for his tomb. It is said that he built 
a small monument in the pyramid shape, and 
after it was completed added another layer, 
then another, till the present structure was the 
result ; and it is presumed that if his reign had 
extended beyond the fifty years he would have 
kept on still adding other layers, and so increas- 
ing its size. This, the largest one of the group, 
occupies nearly thirteen acres of ground, and is 
one mass of solid stone, except a very limited 
space taken up by interior rooms, probably used 
as tombs for the builder and his family. 

The brother of Cheops, who succeeded him on 
the throne, built the next pyramid in size, dur- 
ing the fifty-five years of his reign, and it seems 
to have become the custom of each king, for a 



128 New Yo7'k to the Orient. 



long time subsequently, to build a pyramid for 
his tomb. Hence the large number of them that 
are standing to-day. 

The Sphinx is a colossal, rude stone lion with 
the head of a man. It was built in a crouching 
position with the immense head towering high 
in the air. The face is much mutilated. The 
nose is said to have been shot off by the mame- 
hikes, who used it as a target, and the face is 
otherwise damaged. This group of monuments 
must for ever remain a comparative enigma to 
the visitor, after all that is known of them 
from history and tradition, and no doubt hun- 
dreds of generations of our future brothers will 
gaze upon them, as we do, with wonder and 
delight. 

Returning to the city we are just in season to 
meet the surging crowd of carriages, pedestrians, 
camels, donkeys, etc., that cross the bridge on 
the closing of the draw, which is daily opened 
for an hour at two p.m. Turning to the right, 
a short ride brings ns to Old Cairo, with its 
narrow, dirty streets and quaint architecture. 

We visit the old Coptic Church of St. Mary, 
in the cave of which it is claimed that the 
Virgin and Child spent a month after their 
flight from Palestine. The Copts here cele- 



New York to the Orie7it, 



129 



brate many religious festivals, such as Palm 
Sunday, the anniversary of the baj^tism of 
Christ, and others. 

We next come to the most ancient mosque 
in Egypt, the Gam-a-Amr, which is some five 
hundred feet square, with a large, open court 
in the middle, each of the four sides consist- 
ing of a series of high arches supported by 
numerous columns, the whole being covered 
with a roof. There were originally three hun- 
dred and sixty of these columns ; but many of 
them have fallen, and some still lie on the 
ground, while others have been carried away. 
Tlie appearance of the mosque would indicate 
that the claim to antiquity is a legitimate one. 

This old part of Cairo was once the centre of 
the immense population, though now it is mere- 
ly a suburb of the city. Opposite this section of 
the city is the island of Rhodda, which Ave reach 
by a ferry across the arm of the Nile. The prin- 
cipal object of interest here is the Nileometer, a 
column in the middle of a wide well which is 
connected with the Nile. On the column are 
engraved iBgures to indicate the height of the 
water, and at the period of the annual overflow 
the Nileometer is watched with all-absorbing in- 
terest. 



130 Nezu York to the Orient, 



On a commanding height, quite on the other 
side of the city, is situated a large structure 
known as the Citadel, from which a grand view of 
Cairo is obtained. It is in the hands of the Eng- 
lish, and filled with British soldiers. Every 
part of the city can be readily reached by their 
guns. 

In an inner court of the Citadel we come to 
the Mosque of Mohammed Ali. It is called the 
Alabaster Mosque, the pillars and the interior 
walls being made of that material, presenting a 
most ornamental and rich appearance. The cen- 
tre dome is very high and the whole interior ex- 
ceedingly imposing. 

In leaving the Citadel we pass the finest speci- 
men of Arabian architecture in existence, the 
Mosque of the Sallan Hassan, known as the 
^'Superb Mosque." It is very high, and por- 
tions of the dome are covered with a peculiar 
kind of ornamented wood-work, which appears 
like black walnut, and which is gradually drop- 
ping off, as it is apparently never repaired. It 
is at least eighty feet from the pavement, and 
has the appearance of having been untouched 
for centuries. 

After a ride of some eight miles from the city, 
nearly in an easterly direction^ through another 



Nezv York to the Orient. 131 

of the shaded avenues for which (^airo is famous, 
to visit one of the oldest obelisks of Egypt, all 
that remains of the ancient Heliopolis. It con- 
sists of a single stone, sixty-six feet high and 
six feet square at the base, covered with hiero- 
glyphics, which tell its story. Its companion 
obelisk was destroyed in a.d. 656. 

Returning to the city, we visit, on the way, 
the celebrated ostrich farm, where the birds are 
hatched by steam-heat. We saw some two hun- 
dred of the birds, from the tiny infant of five 
weeks to the full-grown ostrich of eight years, 
standing fully eight feet high. The plumage of 
some of the larger birds was very beautiful. 

About two miles down the Mle, and opposite 
Cairo, stands the Chateau of G-ezireli, the former 
residence of the ex-Khedive, who is an exile from 
his country and is living at IN'aples, Italy. It is 
untenanted, and looks lonesome in all its magni- 
ficence of furniture and artistic work. 

There are a great many points of interest that 
might be worth mentioning but my limits forbid 
— the tombs of the Mamelukes, tombs of the 
Caliphs, the bazaars, the Monastery of the Der- 
vishes, the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, etc. 
The latter is one of the most interesting places in 
Cairo, as it has a large collection of statuary, 



132 



Nczv York to the Orient. 



tombs, and mummies, with a great variety of 
gold ornaments found in the tombs, in some 
cases amounting to thousands of dollars in value 
in a single tomb. No traveller should omit a 
visit here, as it is a kind of epitome of Egj^pt, 
and shows one as much as he could see in tra- 
velling thousands of miles. 

This is the height of the season in Egypt, and 
all the hotels are crowded with tourists. Parties 
are almost daily departing for the upper Nile. 
We meet many Americans, also large numbers 
of Englishmen, and many Grermans. 



LETTER XII. 



From Cairo to Alexandria — The Valley of the Nile— How the 
Land is Irrigated — Different Methods of Raising the Wa- 
ter — The Wonderful Land of Egypt — Alexandria — A Visit 
to Poinpey's Pillar — The Catacombs — Leaving Alexandria — 
Review of, and Reflections Upon, the Journey thus far — 
Valuable Things Learned about Business, Eating, etc. — 
Some Advice — Messina in Sicily. 

Messina, January 30, 1886. 
g\ I 'E leave Cairo and run the distance to 
^^'^ Alexandria, one hundred and thirty 
miles, in about five hours — good speed for this 
part of the world. The route lies the entire dis- 
tance through the valley of the Nile, and it is 
almost a dead level. On the way we see many 
marks of the peculiar civilization obtaining here, 
and are especially impressed by the way they 
manage the water, which everywhere premeates 
the country from the Nile. They evidently de- 
pend upon this water for their crops, for there 
is scarcely any rain here at any season. By 
the annual overflow of the Nile the ground is 
thoroughly soaked for some three or four weeks, 
and the numerous canals and irrigating ditches 

^33 



134 



New York to the Orient. 



are tilled for future use. Many of tlie canals 
lead the water from tlie Nile at its ordinary 
stage, and it is tlien lifted into the irrigating 
ditches by various curious appliances. The 
usual way is by a kind of wheel constructed 
upon the principle of a grain elevator. The 
wheel is of large diameter, and in some cases 
the water is lifted by chambers or buckets, 
which are filled when they are submerged and 
emptied as they rise to the top by the revolu- 
tion of the wheel. Many of the wheels have a 
series of earthen jars tied on the centre of the 
rim, which are filled and emptied in the same 
manner. The power is furnished by an ox or 
butfalo, which, plods its weary round all day 
long. This is, no doubt, one of the oldest 
mechanical appliances to be found in the coun- 
try, and, from the present appearance of the 
many samples we have seen, no improvements 
have been added for thousands of years. 

We observe a still more extraordinary method 
of elevating the water which is employed at 
points where the wheels had not been set up. 
It is by means of a basket hung in the middle 
of a long rope, which two men handle from its 
ends. They plunge the basket into the water 
by a peculiarly dexterous motion and fill it, 



New York to the Orient, 



135 



and then by a swinging lift raise it and pour 
the water into the basin that conducts it aw^ay 
into the ditch. Although it is raised very quick- 
ly, it is evident that a considerable portion of 
the water leaks out before it can be emptied; 
and it is highly probable, too, that this process 
has been going on some thousands of years, and 
no ingenious Egyptian has ever thought of lin- 
ing the basket so that it w^ould hold water. 

We have also seen during our trip to-day 
thousands of old-fashioned well-sw^eeps in con- 
stant motion raising the w^ater by buckets for 
the same purpose. It reminded us of our child- 
hood days, when we used to drink from ''the 
old oaken bucket" which was raised in this 
manner by the old well-sweep from the cool 
depths beneath. The fertility of the soil in the 
valley of the Mle is something wonderful, and 
is attributable mainly to the deposit made on the 
surface by the annual overflow. 

Egypt is the arena of some of the principal 
events recorded in Bible history, both of the Old 
and the New Testaments. The earliest of these is 
the journey of Abraham into Egypt at the time of 
the great famine, and out of which event grew the 
wonderful history of Joseph, perhaps the most 
fascinating story recounted in the Old Testament. 



136 



New York to the Orient. 



W e are now at Alexandria, a city of over two 
hundred thousand inhabitants, situated at the 
jDrincipal mouth of the Nile. There is a saying 
that to the traveller approaching it from Europe 
it appears quite like an Eastern city, bat to one 
coming from the East it appears quite European 
in its aspect. Tlie latter is certainly true, for the 
contrast between this beautiful city and the best 
built cities we saw in Palestine is very marked. 
The streets are wide, and there are many splen- 
did blocks four and five stories high, and many 
fine private residences. 

The one special thing worthy of a visit is 
Pompey's Pillar. This is a grand shaft of 
red granite, beautifully polished, and, as it 
stands upon an eminence on the edge of the 
city, it presents a very commanding appear- 
ance. The whole monument is one hundred 
feet high. It consists of a single shaft upon 
a base of about sixteen feet high, with a cap 
at the summit which is crumbling away with 
age. The cap and base both appear to be of 
inferior material and workmanship. The ab- 
sence of the statue that once adorned its sum- 
mit detracts much from its symmetry and 
beauty. But there it stands connecting the 
centuries, stretching far back into the dim dis- 



New York to the Orient. 



137 



tance, with tlie present period of busy and 
bustling activities. 

We close our visit to Alexandria with a view 
of the catacombs, the fortifications, and the ba- 
zaar, and a ride through the suburbs, and pre- 
pare ourselves to embark once more on the Me- 
diterranean in the pursuance of our long journey 
homeward. 

The harbor of Alexandria is large, and is pro- 
tected by a long mole constructed of large blocks 
of artificial stone, made of a combination of ce- 
ment, sand, etc. Large war-vessels of the French, 
English, Italian, and Turkish fleets, also the khe- 
dive's steam-yacht, lie at anchor in the harbor, 
and many steamers are loading and discharging, 
besides a large number of sailing-vessels, pre- 
senting altogether a very busy scene. The posi- 
tion of Alexandria makes it a port of increasing 
importance, lying as it does directly in the route 
from England to the East, via the Suez Canal. 

We are now leaving Alexandria by one of the 
vessels of the Florio-Rubatino line, the principal 
' Italia>n line of steamers in the Mediterranean. 
Our vessel has just had a new engine put in, and 
some friction of the parts is causing us serious 
delay, giving us ample time for a mental review of 
our journey thus far, and for any suggestions that 



138 New York to the Orient. 



may be prompted thereby. To visit different 
countries and witness the various habits of life, 
social customs, and religious beliefs and prac- 
tices can have no other than a broadening influ- 
ence upon the traveller, especially if he endea- 
vors to divest himself of the prejudices he may 
naturally entertain concerning the social customs 
and religious beliefs prevailing in his ovrn coun- 
try. Extensive travelling in other countries than 
one's own is very apt to convince him that his 
own country can claim no monopoly of the best 
things obtainable in this life. 

In contrasting our own country with others, 
especially with reference to inventions and im- 
provements in the appliances of our domestic 
and manufacturing processes, we cannot fail to 
see a great difference in our favor, yet in many 
other respects we may learn valuable lessons 
from our neighbors. In the matter of religion 
we may at least learn the great lesson of tolera- 
tion. We see others as earnest and sincere in 
their beliefs and conviction as we can be. In- 
deed, the wild Arab of the desert will often put 
to shame the Christian, who looks upon him with 
pity, by the earnestness and fervor of his devo- 
tions. If by contrast with the believers in other 
religions than our own we learn to lieep silent^ 



New York to the Orient. 



139 



and let the influence of our religion upon our 
own lives constitute the only proselyting agency 
in our association with others, we learn the 
greatest lesson of all. 

But there are two things which we may learn 
of European and Eastern nations that would be 
a great improvement upon our present methods 
and tend much to improve our health and com- 
fort, and these are our methods of business and 
our habits of eating. We find nowhere away 
from our own country the terrible rush and in- 
cessant strain that everywhere prevail among our 
business men. To make money is not every- 
where the sole object of life, as it appears to be 
with us ; but the enjoyment of life, social claims, 
and amusement have a much larger share of the 
time and attention of the business man, and this 
reacts upon him, conferring health and vigor and 
longer life. 

In like manner the habits of eating in these 
countries are a vast improvement upon ours. In- 
stead of dining with railroad speed upon two or 
three dishes and drinking a quantity of ice- 
water, the dinner here is a deliberate affair, con- 
sisting of a series of dishes, which are partaken 
of deliberately, aiid a light, tart wine is the uni- 
versal dinner beverage. For instance^ our din- 



140 New York to the Orient. 



ner on this steamer last niglit consisted of 
eleven courses, the jjlates being changed for each 
course, and we were an hour and a half at table. 
Excellent Italian red wine in abundance is fur- 
nished free to each first-class passenger. I have 
noticed that our national disease, the dyspepsia, 
is almost unknown in these Eastern countries, 
where overeating and fast eating do not prevail 
as with us. There can be little doubt that the 
great prevalence of dyspepsia in the United 
States arises mostly from the nervous excite- 
ment produced by overw^ork, and from rapid 
eating and consequent overeating. 

It is curious and interesting to notice the dif- 
ferent customs and hours of meals. On the At- 
lantic steamers they serve a substantial meat 
breakfast at eight, a lunch, about equal to a 
dinner, except the soup, at one, a dinner at six, 
and a hearty supper at nine ; while on the steam- 
ers in the Mediterranean they serve a small cup 
of coffee, with a small, dry cracker only, on ris- 
ing ; at ten a breakfast of four or five courses, 
with wine ; and at five p.m. an elaborate dinner, 
and at nine a cup of tea. Stopping with a friend 
in London, on the journey out, we had a delicate 
breakfast at eight, dinner at one, tea at five, and 
a hearty supper at nine, with porter, ale, and 



Neiv York to the Orient. 141 



wine. While in Palestine, being again a guest 
in a private family, we took breakfast at eight, 
lunch at twelve, tea at three, dinner at seven, 
and tea again at nine. But every meal, at what- 
ever the hour, is taken with great deliberation. 
Perhaps oar readers may think that these de- 
tails are not interesting, but I note them because 
it is quite evident that we Americans need ''line 
upon line" on this subject. 

After four days' sailing, the mountainous and 
highly picturesque coast of Calabria, the south- 
ernmost point of Italy, meets our welcome gaze 
to the right, and at the same moment the most 
perfect rainbow I have ever witnessed spans 
the entire circuit from horizon to horizon. It 
is raining for the moment on the mountains, 
and the picture presented is exceedingly grand 
and gorgeous ; the high mountains, with their 
fertile valleys studded with villas, in the back- 
ground, the rain and mist partly concealing 
them, and the brilliant rainbow standing out 
with its unrivalled colors in front, while there 
is a distinct reflection of the rainbow on the 
sea between our vessel and the shore. 

A few minutes more and we discern a high 
range of mountains on the left, disclosing to oar 
view the coast of Sicily, and an hour more brings 



142 New York to the Orient. 



us to Messina, the most important commercial 
city in Sicily. It is grandly located, having the 
high mountains of Sicily in the immediate back- 
ground, and across the Straits of Messina the 
Calabrian range. The city is said to have been 
founded by pirates in the eighth century, and 
it has passed through many vicissitudes caused 
by wars and revolutions, as well as by earth- 
quakes, pestilence, etc. It has a population of 
some 75,000, and is at present in a flourishing 
condition, arising largely from its favorable lo- 
cation for commerce. 

Leaving Messina, twenty hours more will bring 
us into Naples, the beauty of whose famed bay 
has been praised by so many eloquent tongues 
and pens. 



LETTER XIII. 



Leaving Messina — Tlie Volcano of Stromboli — Bay of Naples — 
How it Compares with New York Bay — The City of Na- 
ples — A Visit to Pompeii — Description of the Houses — The 
Temples, Theatres, and Basilicas — Herculaneiim— The Mu- 
seum and its Statuary from the Buried Cities — Palaces, 
Catacombs, and Tombs — A Bide through Naples — An 
Eruption of Mount Vesuvius. 

Naples, February 5, 1886. 

EAVING Messina at eight p.m., we are 
soon again ploughing the rough sur- 
face of the Mediterranean. We pass the is- 
land of Stromboli at one o'clock, but our mid- 
night vigil is only rewarded by a slight curl 
of smoke issuing from the crater of the vol- 
cano bearing the same name. We well remem- 
ber the description of the volcano of Stromboli 
in the geography of our school-boy days, and 
as we are now to pass within two or three miles 
of its base we determine to sit up and make 
its more intimate acquaintance, fondly hoping 
for some fitful gleam at least, if not a grand 
pyrotechnic display, from its cloud-capped cra- 
ter. But the internal forces seem disinclined 

to favor us, as they evidently lie slumbering far 

143 




144 



New York to the Orient. 



down in tlie depths below, slowly accreting, no 
doubt, tlie power which, on some more fortunate 
day, will burst suddenly forth, thus affording 
other travellers the grand view we so much 
crave, and so freshly illustrating the oft-noted 
fact that real or fancied good often eludes the 
grasp of those who most earnestly crave it, while 
it comes unexjjectedly to those who least antici- 
pate it. 

The sea at this point of our journey is giving 
us a lively dance, in which the chairs, table, and 
breakfast dishes join. But we are approaching 
the famed bay of Naples. In the early morn- 
ing we ]3ass the precipitous rocks which consti- 
tute the island of Capri, and so enter the bay, 
and we soon find that no description, however 
eloquent, can convey an adequate conception of 
its beauty and grandeur. It is immensely large 
and the water is evidently deep, with no obstruc- 
tions to navigation. It is twelve miles long, from 
the island of Capri to Naples, and some ten miles 
wide. When Jenny Lind sailed up the bay of 
New York for the first time, on a beautiful day, 
standing upon the deck of the steamer, she de- 
clared to Mr. Barnum, who stood beside her, 
that its beauties fully equalled those of the 
bay of Naples, and that she had never wit- 



New York to the Orient. 145 

nessed a more beautiful scene. If any apology 
were needed for such an opinion from tlie famed 
songstress, it might be found in the enthusiasm 
of the occasion. She might naturally desire to 
place herself on a good footing with the citizens 
of a great nation, who were soon to welcome 
her so warmly and praise and admire her so en- 
thusiastically. 

The bay of New York is as beautiful as the 
bay of Naples, but the latter is much larger, and 
is partially surrounded by very high and com- 
manding mountains ; and Mount Vesuvius, tow- 
ering so high as to be covered, in this low lati- 
tude, with snow nearly half way down to its 
base, adds a feature of great beauty at all times, 
and more especially during the periods of erup- 
tion. 

But New York, if her harbor is smaller and 
more difficult of access, has made a better use of 
her facilities than Naples. The commerce of the 
latter is comparatively insignificant. There are 
only some half a dozen steamers and a score or 
two of sailing vessels in port at present, and 
they all lie snngly clustered together in a small 
inner harbor, thus leaving the immense expanse 
of the great harbor with rather a deserted and 
lonesome aspect. As you enter the city of Na- 



146 



New York to the Orieiit. 



pies you fail to recognize the vigorous throbs 
of that mighty commerce which quickens the 
heartbeats of the great commercial emporium 
of the western continent. 

Considering the fact that Naples is by far the 
largest city in Italy, having some 600,000 in- 
habitants, the aspect of its streets and build- 
ings is disappointing, and there is also a compara- 
tive dearth of the famous works of art that one 
expects to find on visiting Italy. The valuable 
treasures of antiquity that have been exhumed 
from Herculaneum and Pompeii are by far the 
most important to be found here, and serve, in 
some degree, to compensate for the lack of works 
of superior merit. 

ISTaples dates back more than one thousand 
years before Christ, and until several centu- 
ries of the Christian era had elapsed the Greek 
language and customs predominated, as is clear- 
ly proven by the antiquities discovered in Her- 
culaneum and Pompeii. After the third cen- 
tury, when the Romans conquered the penin- 
sula, they held possession, and gradually intro- 
duced their language and civilization, and it is 
only in certain remote districts that traces of 
the Greek language and customs can now be 
discovered. 



New York to the Orient. 147 

A long and earnestly cli^rished desire to visit 
Pompeii can now be gratified. We reach the ex- 
humed city by railroad, a distance of fourteen 
miles, in fifty minutes. Paying the entrance 
fee of two francs, a guide is assigned us, who 
conducts us through the city and gives us a very 
intelligible explanation of the different points of 
interest, though his knowledge of the English 
language is rather limited. The approach to the 
principal gate is up a rather steep ascent, for the 
city is situated on a hill. We first visit a small 
museum near the entrance, where many exhumed 
relics are deposited, the most interesting of which 
are several bodies taken from the ruins, some 
of them recently. A complete impression of the 
bodies in the positions they occupied after they 
were overwhelmed was made in the ashes and 
scoriae before the flesh could have disintegrated 
and dropped away, thus leaving only the bones. 
In some cases where these moulds were pre- 
served in a sufficiently perfect state they were 
filled with plaster, and so the exact shape and 
attitude of the deceased at the moment they 
were overwhelmed has been preserved. 

We pass on and enter one of the principal 
streets of the exhumed city. We visit a good 
many of the houses, but as they are constructed 



148 



Nczu Yo7^k to the Orient. 



upon the same general plan a description of one 
is sufficient. Tlie main difference consists in 
tlie size of the rooms and style of ornamenta- 
tion. The entrance to the house leads directly 
into the atrium, an open court, with a foun- 
tain in the centre. Back of this is an apart- 
ment which we should call a reception-room, 
where the owner of the house receired his 
friends and business acquaintances. Back of 
this room was an open court, surrounded by 
columns, which was the general family apart- 
ment. On each side of all these central apart- 
ments were the sleeping and eating rooms of 
the family, and other rooms for domestic uses. 

The sleeping-rooms w^ere generally very small. 
The paintings were all in fresco upon the walls, 
and in some of the buildings of the wealthy in- 
habitants they were very fine. The general tone 
of the artistic work, both of the statuary and 
paintings, is luxurious, and in many cases some- 
what erotic, plainly indicating the ease-loving 
and pleasure-seeking character of the inhabi- 
tants. A large amount of wonderful statuary, 
and also various kinds of ornamental articles, 
have been removed and deposited in the muse- 
um at Naples as the excavations from time to 
time have brought them to light. In many cases 



N'czv York to the Orient, 



T49 



the mural paintings have also been sawed off 
from the walls and deposited in the same place. 
The latter, however, is not allowed any more, and 
so the paintings which are now discovered re- 
main in their original positions. The second 
story was apjDropriated to the slaves. 

The fact that the principal public buildings 
have been already disclosed indicates that the 
central portion of the city has been opened up. 
Among these are the Fornm^ the Temple of 
Jupiter, Temple of Mercury, Temple of "Venus, 
the Basilica, etc., etc., and the great theatre. 
The latter especially has been admirably pre- 
served. The stage, the pit, the elevated seats 
back of the latter, and even the galleries are 
exactly as they were eighteen hundred years 
ago. 

With a little aid of the imagination one can 
picture the scenes that transpired here in that 
far-off age, the social intercourse, the public dis- 
plays, the legislation, the administration of jus- 
tice, and indeed one can almost see the happy 
faces peering out of the carriages whose wheels 
have worn deep furrows in the large stone blocks 
with which the streets are paved. There can be 
no deception here, as in many of the so-called 
sacred places and relics that challenge the ere- 



150 New York to the Orient, 



dulity of the traveller in the Holy Land. There 
are the veritable grooves in the solid stone 
blocks, in many cases cut so deep that it w^ould 
seem not improbable that the wheels were roll- 
ing over them at the very moment when Christ 
was born in Bethlehem. 

The little city is supposed to have contained 
some 20,000 inhabitants, and was no doubt a 
prosperous, thriving place, as there are many 
indications that it was the seat of considerable 
local traffic. There are several wine- shops con- 
taining the identical stone jars that the wine was 
drawn from to supply the customers of their 
former owners. These were of extraordinary 
size, some of them being of the capacity of 
two or three barrels each. But we must leave 
this most fascinating spot and return to the city, 
passing Herculaneum on our way, w^hich lies 
more directly at the foot of Mount Vesuvius. 

The second great point of interest here is the 
museum, a visit to which has delighted us more 
than we can describe. It is the great depository 
of the works of art and relics that have been ex- 
humed from the buried cities of Herculaneum 
and Pompeii, and is devoted almost exclusive- 
ly to them. The building is very magnificent 
and expensive, being entirely fire-proof, and the 



Nczv York to the Oric7it. 151 

collection is most admirably arranged and group- 
ed. It is said here to be one of the largest and 
richest collections of ancient statuary in the 
world. 

As one wanders through the magnificent halls 
and feasts his eyes upon these rare masterpieces 
of art, which so unmistakably mark the distant 
era in which they were produced as the golden 
age of statuary, he may well realize that he is 
enjoying a treat which never in the course of 
his future life will be repeated, unless, fortunate- 
ly, he may some time visit it again, after the col- 
lection shall have been enriched by additions 
from the same sources, the results of future 
excavations. 

The appearance of the statues in the collection 
indicates unmistakably which of the two buried 
cities they were exhumed from. Those taken 
from Herculaneum are quite brown and dis- 
colored, that city having been overwhelmed by 
a stream, of lava, which, of course, reached the 
city while it was yet hot ; but Pompeii was 
covered deep with the ashes and scorise which 
were thrown from the crater, and probably 
drifted in that direction by the wind. The lat- 
ter materials being lighter and not so hot, the 
statuary and other art treasures were not so 



152 New York to the Orient. 



much injured, and many of tliem are exliumed 
in a comparatively perfect state, after having 
laid in their tomb for eighteen hundred years. 

The museum is specially rich in bronzes from 
the two cities, the extreme delicacy and beauty 
of v^hicli convey to us an idea of the height to 
which this art had been cultivated. The causes 
alluded to above have produced somewhat analo- 
gous effects upon the bronzes, those taken from 
Herculaneum being of a dark green hue, pro- 
duced by the pressure of the great masses of 
hot lava, while those from Pompeii are of a 
light blue and green tinge, and somewliat oxi- 
dized from exposure to greater moisture. 

Where there is such a wilderness of richness 
and beauty we can only generalize. The govern- 
ment certainly deserve great credit for the man- 
ner in which they have preserved and arranged 
this wonderful collection. 

We have visited many other places which we 
have not the space to describe, the royal palaces, 
the aquarium, the catacombs, the tomb of Virgil, 
who wrote many of his beautiful works here, 
etc., etc., and we will close with a ride through 
the old part of the city. The streets here are 
mostly very narrow, many of them not more 
than six or eight feet wide, and the houses ai*e 



New York to the Oi^ient, 



153 



very high. In many cases it would be easy for 
the neighbors to shake hands with each other 
across the street from the upper stories, for there 
is often less space between the houses in the 
ni3per than in the lower part of them. 

The population is very dense and the sanitary 
arrangements exceedingly imperfect. The cho- 
lera two years ago swept awaj^- five hundred 
victims a day from this part of the city. We 
return to our hotel by a drive past the public 
gardens on the principal promenade of the city, 
bordering on the bay. 

The Hotel de Vesuvius has been recently 
erected, and is entirely in the Pompeian style of 
architecture and decorations, and is certainly a 
most harmonious and beautiful building. It is 
one of the best and most honestly conducted 
hotels we have ever met with in any country, 
and is delightfully situated upon the bay di- 
rectly opposite Mount Vesuvius. 

We have witnessed the only eruption from the 
crater that w^e have seen during our visit as we 
rose from bed this morning, at a very eady hour, 
to leave the city. But we must bid good-by to 
Naples and depart for Rome, the next goal on 
our homeward journey. 



LETTER XIY. 



A Sight of Vesuvius in Eruption— Leaving Naples and the Jour- 
ney to Rome— In the Holy City— A Visit to St. Peter's 
Church— Its Marvels— The Vatican, the Pope's Prison- 
Galleries of Pictures and Statuary— The Capitol Museum — 
Other Attractions, etc., etc. 

Home, February 10, 1886. 

* 1^ AYING risen early tins morning to com- 
G plete our arrangements for leaving ^Ta- 
ples, we were favored witli the sight of an 
eruption from Vesuvius, which had hitherto, 
during our visit here, been emitting great clouds 
of smoke only. It was Just before the dawn of 
day, and as it was a dark morning the effect 
was grand. 

Regretting the necessity of cutting short our 
visit to this famed spot, and taking one more 
view of the beautiful bay with its unrivalled 
environments, we enter the train and pass rapid- 
ly northwards. A short ride on an admirable 
stone ballasted railroad brings us. to hoary old 
Rome. The scenery is beautiful. The railroad 
runs through a valley most of the distance, and 

hundreds of men and women are digging up the 

154 



New York to the Orient. 155 



ground with spades, while in the whole distance 
we only saw one man using a plough for that pur- 
pose, which was drawn by a pair of feeble look- 
ing oxen. Although we are in the midst of a 
civilization in which one would naturally look 
for the adoption of the modern appliances for 
cultivating the soil, which have so thoroughly 
revolutionized the old methods in our own coun- 
try, we are surprised to find a prevalence of the 
old methods and the almost universal use of the 
old implements. 

We become aware that the great city is not 
far distant by the sight of many curious things, 
the most striking of which is a stone aqueduct, 
stretching far out into the Campagna. It is 
built upon stone arches and stands high above 
the plain. In many places the structure seems 
to be complete for long distances, when sud- 
denly a break occurs and a few arches are mis- 
sing, the only indication, as we view it from the 
window of the car, that it is a ruin. 

The scene at the station in Rome is almost a 
duplicate of that which is daily witnessed at the 
stations of all the principal cities of the United 
States. The principal hotels have their busses 
on hand to receive guests, and you are even ad- 
dressed in English in many cases, as the porters 



156 



New York to the Orient, 



usually manage enoiigli of tliat language to use 
on such occasions, and they are very expert in 
detecting the nationality of the traveller by his 
general appearance. We soon find ourselves 
comfortably housed at the Hotel de Londres. 
The house is filled with guests, as the leading 
hotels in Rome always are at this season, just 
before the carnival opens. 

There is every indication that the history of 
this wonderful city extends far back into the 
remote past. But the history of its origin must 
necessarily be largely a matter of conjecture. 
The story of Romulus and Remus fixes the date 
of the foundation of the city 753 B.C. But there 
can be no reasonable doubt that it is much older 
than this. 

To visit St. Peter's Church at Rome has been 
the dream of our life, and now the fascinating 
dream is about to become a reality. We ap- 
proach the noble edifice with reverent steps. It 
is not sacred to us, we must confess, because of 
the religious associations clustering around it, 
but because of its grand proportions, its sublime 
beauty, its inspiring harmony ; because it was 
conceived and projected into being by the ac- 
tion of the divine influx of harmony upon the 
human faculties. Underlying the claims of the 



New York to the Orient, 157 



ecclesiastical body wlio dominate here, as to 
tlie sacredness of the building, and the infalli- 
bility of their system of faith and worship, there 
must, of necessity, be much that is unreliable, 
since it is the result of many centuries of crude 
experiences, and has crystallized into its present 
form through the gradual development of the 
religious faculties of a long succession of fallible 
men, many of them filled with narrow and crude 
ideas which they in turn had inherited. But 
no broad-minded man can stand in this presence 
and gaze at this noble structure, and take in 
its grand proportions, without realizing some- 
thing of the inspiration through which it was 
conceived and the genius by which it was em- 
bodied. 

The immediate approach to St. Peter's is ex- 
ceedingly imposing. It consists of a grand 
plaza over ten hundred feet long by about 
six hundred feet wide. On the sides are two 
semi-circular colonnades, supported by nearly 
four hundred columns and buttresses, and 
crowned by one hundred and twenty-six statues 
of saints. In the centre of the plaza stands the 
great obelisk brought from Egypt some three 
hundred years ago, which is flanked by two 
beautiful fountains, constantly pouring forth 



158 New York to the Orient. 



copious streams of sparkling water. These 
stand opposite the centre of the colonnades, and 
altogether the effect is harmonious and beauti- 
ful. 

All these things combined, the ample space, 
the tall, tapering obelisk, the graceful fountains, 
and the wonderful double colonnades, form a 
most appropriate approach to the largest and 
grandest church in the world. 

The front is one hundred and forty-four feet 
in height, and is crowned with statues of Christ 
and the apostles nineteen feet high. From the 
grand entrance, which is three hundred and 
eighty feet long, we pass into the church itself. 
As we gaze up into the vast dome a feeling of 
awe pervades us, which is succeeded by a con- 
sciousness of personal insignificance. 

We now make the ascent, which will enable 
us to view the vast structure from the different 
points of elevation. Eeaching the base of the 
dome, we begin to realize the great size of the 
building, and the beauty and harmony of its 
proportions. A good illustration of the latter is 
furnished by the fact that the foot of a cherub 
in mosaic is as long as a man's arm from the 
elbow to the hand, though when viewed from 
the floor below the figure seems of natural size. 



New York to the Orient, 159 



We ascend to the top of the dome, and even 
climb up into the ball, which we find large 
enougli to contain a dozen men in standing posi- 
tion, though it looks from the street below only 
about the size of a man's head. A most superb 
view is here obtained of the city, the cathedral, 
and the surrounding country. 

The main structure was built after the plans 
of Bramante. It was not finished during his life- 
time, and Michael Angelo, who succeeded him 
in charge of the work, comj)leted the edifice 
according to the original plans. The dome was 
the work of Michael Angelo, and was finished 
strictly according to his plans, though it was 
not completed until after his death. 

We return to St. Peter's repeatedly during 
the brief visit we are enabled to make here, and 
every time with increased enjoyment of its 
beauty and grandeur. 

Passing to the left on leaving the church we 
enter the Vatican, the residence of the pope — or 
rather his prison, as he terms it, for he never 
goes outside the grounds since he has been de- 
prived of the civil power. Indeed, it is more 
than whispered that he does not dare to pass 
the limits of the Vatican, so strong is the feel- 
ing of the Jesuits, on account of the divorce- 



i6o New York to the Orient, 

nient of tlie civil from the religious functions 
of tlie pope. But the people of Italy have a 
voice in this matter, and from present indica- 
tions the pope will not only die in the harness 
in his prison, but his successor will enter Ms 
prison for life when. he assumes the functions 
of his office. 

The point of absorbing interest in the Vatican 
is the fact that it is the receptacle of so many 
rare and valuable works of art, and we hasten to 
get such a view of them as the time at our dis- 
posal may allow. The picture-galleries are mostly 
at the very top of the different buildings com- 
prising the Vatican, where the best light can be 
obtained. The wealth of art stored here is al- 
most inconceivable to one who has not visited 
these galleries, and one is dazed on finding him- 
self face to face with such a number of works 
of the old masters, about the authenticity of 
which there cannot be the least doubt, and feels 
how feeble is the attempt at particular descrip- 
tion, when a single gem of Titian, or Raphael, 
or Domenichino can only begin to be appreci- 
ated after hours and houl's of patient study. 
Passing through gallery after gallery filled to 
repletion with the best productions of a host of 
the most celebrated artists of the past, we de- 



Nezo York to the Orient. i6i 



scend to tlie street agnin, feeling tliat life is 
not long enough to properly see all that there 
is to see of art in this grand old city of Rome. 

The gallery of statuary is reached by a detour 
round St. Peter's, quite a long walk, affording 
an excellent view of the exterior of the church 
on all sides and a good idea of its immense 
proportions. The same remarks apply to the 
statuary as to the paintings. A single statue 
possesses in itself a value beyond all money esti- 
mate. The Romans regard the Apollo Belvedere 
with the same reverence and guard it with the 
same watchfulness and zealous care as the Pari- 
sians do their Venus de Milo. It has no money 
value, and could not be bought. This statue 
possesses a most singular and fascinating beauty, 
and produces rather the idea of grace and dignity 
than of massiveness and strength. 

We visit the Capitol Museum especially to see 
the Dying Gladiator. It was found in the gar- 
dens of Sallust with other statues, and is a most 
wonderful work. The right arm was restored by 
Michael Angelo, and is an excellent specimen 
of his great skill. The domain of art is so exten- 
sive here, and it is so utterly impossible for any 
one, and especially one whose knowledge of art 
is limited, to do anything like justice to it, that 



1 62 New York to the Orient. 



we despair of saying much that can interest the 
reader. We certainly are deriving great satisfac- 
tion from even a cursory view^ of the celebrated 
works that are scattered in great profusion 
through the numerous galleries that are acces- 
sible to the public. Besides the strictly public 
galleries many of the old palaces have galleries 
attached to them filled with choice works, and 
they are open to the public on certain specified 
days, and on those days they are thronged with 
visitors. 

But there are many other points of interest in 
Rome which may perhaps prove equally note- 
worthy, some of which we propose to describe in 
our next letter. 



LETTER Xy. 



Yet Tarrying in Rome — More of the Sights of the Ancient City 
■ — Italy and America Wedded — Increase of Art Taste — The 
Colosseum — The Forum — Other Celebrated Structures— The 
Pantheon — The King's Residence — Castle of St. Angelo — 
Ruins of the Baths of Caracalla-^The Catacombs, etc. , etc. 

Rome, February 15, 1886. 

BUT for tlie apprehension that onr readers 
may think we have failed to give them 
snch a description as might be warranted by the 
opportunities enjoyed here, we should mention 
the fact that we are especially fortunate in hav- 
ing an introduction to the private secretary 
to the king of Italy, S. Sirovich, Esq., who is 
an Italian and has lived in Rome all his life. 
Through him we gain access to many places we 
could not otherwise see. Not the least interest- 
ing of these is his own house, where we are most 
cordially welcomed and hospitably entertained. 

Italy and America are w^edded in this house- 
hold, Mr. Sirovich having married the daugliter 
of one of our most celebrated artists, who has 
spent the greater part of his life in Rome. She 
has lost none of her affection for Americaj and 



164 New York to the Orient. 



not only takes ns to lier heart and home, but 
constitutes lierself our guide, and goes with us 
everywhere, and, of course, gives us many inte- 
resting particulars that we should otherwise fail 
to acquire. 

We find in the studio of an English artist who 
has spent his life in Rome an item of especial 
interest. Some two years since he received an 
order from Mrs. Mitchell, wife of Alex. Mitchell, 
the great railroad millionaire of tlie northwest, 
who resides at Milwaukee, for a pair of colossal 
St. Bernard dogs, and they are now completed 
and ready for shipment. This artist has a special 
talent for reproducing animals in marble, and has 
certainly achieved a .notable result in these two 
dogs. They are made of the purest white Carrara 
marble, and are exceedingly life like and beauti- 
ful. It is to be hoped that Mrs. Mitchell will 
give her countrymen an opportunity to see these 
gems of art before they are placed in her own 
home; 

It is certainly a most gratifying fact that our 
countrywoman, who has such ample means at 
her command, is disposed to use it for the en- 
couragement of art. That a better day for art is 
dawning upon us in the western world is plainly 
indiccited by the fact that so many of our wealthy 



New York to the Orient, 165 

countrymen are using tlieir means in the most 
effective way to promote its advancement. In 
the intense scramble for money-making men are 
very apt to come to think that there is no higher 
aim in life than the piling up of riches, and any 
indication of a better state of mind in this regard 
is certainly gratifying. Many a struggling artist 
in Rome and other art centres of Europe has 
reaped the benefit of this growing sentiment in the 
orders that he has received from the class alluded 
to. Americans spend their money with prover- 
bial freedom, and of late years they have been 
less disposed to waste it on comparatively worth- 
less objects, and more inclined to invest in works 
of art that have a permanent value. 

Next to St. Peter's in point of interest is the 
Colosseum. This was the largest theatre build- 
ing in the world, being capable of holding almost 
one hundred thousand people. Although large 
quantities of the material have been removed for 
building purposes, about one- third of tlie struc- 
ture remains. In one portion it stands to the 
height of four very high stories, and this is the 
best preserved part of the ruin. Some portions 
of the seats and their foundations are well pre- 
served. In the lower part of the structure, be- 
neath the amphitheatre, were dens for the wild 



1 66 New York to the Orient. 



beasts used in the gladiatorial displays, and during 
an early period tliey had an apparatus by means 
of which the arena was flooded, and naval contests 
formed part of the amusements of the people. 

W^ear the Colosseum is the Roman Forum, also 
one of the most remarkable ruins of the city. It 
occupies an immense space and embraces within 
its area several important ruins, the Temple of 
Saturn, the Column of Phocas, the Temple of 
Castor, etc. The Forum was the great popular 
place for the gatherings of the Roman people, 
and was situated in the very midst of old Rome. 
Beyond the Forum and also near the Colosseum 
is the immense Arch of Constantine, from the 
summit of which a most magnificent panoramic 
view of Rome is obtained. Also the Arch of 
Titus, another old landmark, stands near. On 
the west side of the Forum rises the Palatine 
Hill, containing some of the oldest and most 
remarkable ruins in the city. 

The Palace of the Csesars is here, the dwelling 
of Cicero, and the house of Nero. We entered 
the sleeping-room of the latter and his dining- 
room, both of which have well-preserved frescos 
upon their walls. The Palace of Caligula is also 
within the enclosure, with its immense, gloomy 
dungeons beneath. 



New Yo7^k to the Orient. 167 

The Pantheon, formerly a heathen temple, now 
a church, is said to be the only building of ancient 
Rome that has been preserved in its entirety. It 
is lighted by a large aperture at the top of the 
dome. This is never closed, and the elTect is 
peculiar. At present there is an immense num- 
ber of wreaths on the floor and at the entrance 
and on the pavement in front, placed there in 
honor of Yictor Emmanuel. 

We visit the Quirinal Palace, the residence 
of King Humbert and his beautiful wife. It is 
situated on one of the three parallel hills of the 
Quirinal. The king and queen are very popular, 
and are much beloved by their subjects. We are 
fortunate enough to meet them in the street 
returning from a ride. They are readily distin- 
guished by the red livery of their escort, no one 
else being allowed to use that color. 

The Castle of St. Angelo is an exceedingly 
interesting old pile. It is circular in form, and 
stands near the end of the bridge we cross to go to 
St. Peter' s. It is distinguished as having been the 
prison of Beatrice Cenci. It is now used as a mili- 
tary prison. A magnificent view of St. Peter's is 
obtained from its summit, and the grand dome 
looks larger and more imposing from this point 
than from the street nearer to the church itself. 



1 68 New York to the 07^ient, 



We should be glad to try to say something 
interesting of very many places visited within 
the city limits — the churches, the monuments, 
the fountains, promenades, street scenes, shops, 
theatres, villas, and public and private buildings 
— but there is a limit to the time and space 
properly appropriated to such a purpose, and we 
will therefore visit some of the interesting scenes 
and localities outside the walls. 

Passing out in the direction of the Appian way, 
immediately to the right, and not far from the 
gate by which we leave the city, are the ruins of 
the baths of Caracalla. They were capable of 
accommodating sixteen hundred bathers at once. 
All the statues and works of art were long ago 
removed and placed in the different museums in 
Rome, and there is now little left except the mas- 
sive walls and here and there a bit of the tessellated 
pavement. The place is so immense, the walls 
so massive and grand, that it is difficult to realize 
that it was ever used as a bath, it is so unlike 
any existing place for the same purpose. The 
effect of the Cyclopean walls towering high above 
our heads, as we walk through the deserted and 
dismantled courts below, is exceedingly weird 
and spectre-like. 

The Catacombs of Calixtus next claim our 



Nczu York to the Orient, 169 

[ittention. Beyond these, and situated at greater 
or less distances from tlie main road, are several 
groups of catacombs, which are much frequented 
by visitors, and are full of interest to such of 
them as have archaeological tastes. 

We reach the Appian way proper, and discover 
here and there bits of the original solid stone 
pavement, which consists of large square blocks 
of granite, that appear to be cemented in their 
places, seem to have stood the wear and tear of 
centuries, and to be capable of a repetition of the 
same for other future centuries. Further out, 
the Appian v/ay is flanked with a succession of 
ancient tombs, most of them in a dismantled con- 
dition, the statues and other artistic ornaments 
having been removed and placed in the public 
museums of Rome. Pausing at this point w^e 
refresh ourselves with a bottle of excellent Avine, 
costing only half a franc (ten cents), and return 
to the city just in season to escape the unhealthy 
evening air of the Campagna. 

By a ride of about two miles from the same 
gate in another direction we reach the Church of 
St. Paul, which very few visitors to Rome fail to 
see. One naturally wonders why such a magni- 
ficent church should be erected two miles from 
the city^ but an explanation is furnished by the 



1 70 New York to the Orient. 



knowledge of the fact that in the palmy days of 
Rome the city extended so far out upon the 
Campagna as to bring this church quite within 
its limits. 

It is interesting to observe the striking con- 
trast in the architecture of the new parts of 
Rome and the specimens that are still extant 
here which were produced by Bramante and 
Michael Angelo and other great architects of 
their time. The period in which they lived and 
embodied their conceptions seems to have wit- 
nessed the high- water mark of excellence in this 
line. Indeed, the same is true of painting and 
sculpture. Though mighty struggles have been 
made since in this direction, the old standard of 
excellence has never been reached in either of 
these departments of art. 



LETTER XVL 



Leaving Rome — A Country of many Railroad Tunnels — The 
Carrara Marble Quarries — Pisa and its Leaning Tower and 
other Attractions — Genoa, the Principal Seaport of Italy — 
Milan—*' The Last Supper"— The Great Cathedral— Descrip- 
tion thereof — Yiew from its Tower— Leaving Milan— The 
Alps Scenery — Arrival at Basle. 

Basle, February 20, 1886. 

'Tj JlEAVINGr Rome and entering upon a most 
• * ^ picturesque route by railroad, we pass 
rapidly northward, with the Mediterranean on 
the left and the beautiful Apennine mountains 
on the right. An extraordinary feature of this 
route is the large number of promontories that 
project into the Mediterranean, which are pene- 
trated by tunnels for the passage of the rail- 
road. There are thirty tunnels between Pisa 
and Genoa alone. 

Avensa is a small town on the road from Pisa 
and Genoa, and possesses a harbor, which is 
used mainly for shipping marble from the cele- 
brated quarries of Carrara, which are reached by 

171 



172 New York to the Orient. 



a sliort digression to tlie right over a branch rail- 
road. There are some hundreds of these quar- 
ries, employing thousands of workmen, and 
most of the statuary marble, as well as large 
quantities used for building purposes, comes 
from these quarries, and much is exported to 
France, England, America, and other countries. 

Returning to the main road and proceeding 
northwards, we soon reach Pisa, as a passing 
glimpse of the celebrated leaning tower informs 
us. This is perhaps the first object of interest 
to the traveller, and a very remarkable one it 
certainly is. Pisa is said to have produced 
more celebrated architects than any other city 
in Italy, and it possesses itself several remark- 
able specimens of their skill. The leaning tower 
has eight different stories, and is built twelve 
feet out of perpendicular ; but whether this was 
by accident or design it is now quite impossible 
to tell. This structure, together with the Piazza 
del Duomo, the cathedral, the baptistry, and 
the cemetery, comprise a most extraordinary 
group, the inspection of which completes a day 
of unusual interest, and involves an experience 
that the traveller would be loath to omit. 

We now reach Genoa, and the first thought 
that occurs to an American on entering the city 



New York to the Orient, 173 



naturally is tliat it is the birth-place of Christo- 
pher Columbus. Genoa is the principal seajjort 
of Italy, and possesses a beautiful harbor and 
substantial piers. The exports are mostly the 
fruits of the country, and its imports from 
Great Britain, the United States, and other coun- 
tries largely exceed the exports. Its situation 
is one of extreme beauty, the streets being ter- 
raced one above another upon the abrupt hill- 
side. The city is very old, and is replete with 
historic buildings and works of art, in the ex- 
amination of which the tourist can most plea- 
santly and profitably spend a few days. 

At this point we leave the coast of the Medi- 
terranean and travel toward the interior of nor- 
thern Italy, and soon reach Milan, a large and 
wealthy manufacturing city, situated in the cen- 
tre of the Lombardy district. The principal 
manufactures are of silk, rich tapestries, and 
kid gloves. One firm of glove-makers, which 
employs three hundred hands, sell their entire 
product to a single New York house. 

The two leading considerations which inspired 
our visit to this city were the view of ^'The Last 
Supper," the great masterpiece of Leonardo da 
Vinci, and the great cathedral. Our first visit is 
to the church containing the painting. We find 



174 



Nezv York to the Orient. 



it upon tlie end wall of a long, narrow chapel, 
wliicli is said to have formerly been nsed as the 
dining-room of the monks. The room is cold and 
the surroundings uninviting. The great work 
is in fresco, and is in a dilapidated condition. 
The surface seems blistered, and in many places 
small patches have peeled off ; but the outline 
and the wonderful expression of the faces are 
still well preserved, and, as it is evident that no 
attempt at restoration is allowed, we may reason- 
ably hope that for many generations it may re- 
main and constitute, as it does now, an object 
of veneration and an inexpressible source of de- 
light to thousands and thousands of future wor- 
shippers at the shrine of the great master. 

The Cathedral of Milan is regarded by the Mi- 
lanese with especial veneration and affection. It 
is the third church in size in Europe, St. Peter's 
and the cathedral at Seville being the only larger 
ones. The plan is said to have been copied after 
that of the great cathedral at Cologne, which 
was commenced several hundred years earlier, 
and was altogether eleven hundred years in 
process of erection, and has been but recently 
completed and dedicated. It is one of the finest 
specimens of pure Gothic architecture in Eu- 
rope. 



Neiu York to the Orient, 



175 



It is almost five hundred feet long by one 
hundred and eighty-six feet wide. There are 
fifty-two immense pillars supporting the in- 
terior, each fifteen feet in diameter. These are 
adorned with niches containing marble statues 
instead of capitals, producing a very odd and 
peculiar effect. The distinguishing character- 
istic of the building is the immense number of 
marble statues with which it is adorned in all 
parts, inside and outside. There are already 
forty- five hundred of these, and there are many 
niches yet to be filled. There are one hundred 
Gothic turrets on the roof, and others are being 
added from year to year, and each one is capped 
with a marble statue. Every statue in the build- 
ing is of solid marble, and is made with refe- 
rence to the special position it occupies. The 
result is a grand and harmonious structure. 

We ascend to the highest accessible point in 
the tower, and the view obtained amply com- 
pensates us for the labor. The beautiful city 
lies at our feet, and almost all of northern Italy 
is within the range of vision. Beyond the bor- 
der Mont Cenis, and still farther in the dis- 
tance grand old Mont Blanc tower up against 
the distant horizon, and further to the right the 
Bernese Alps, the summits of the St, Grothardj 



1 76 Nezv York to the Orient. 



and other liigli peaks complete a scene of great 
beauty and grandeur. 

Conspicuous among tlie many otlier great 
cliurclies here worthy of a visit is the Church 
of St. Ambrosio, in the architecture and decora- 
tions of which three distinct civilizations are 
plainly indicated : first, the heathen (who 
used it as a temple of Bacchus) ; second, the 
pagan ; and third, the first Catholic. There are 
here rude pillars and otlier fragments taken 
from the old Temple of Bacchus, which are 
more than two thousand years old. 

In a drive through the city and suburbs we 
pass the Arc de Triomphe, which stands oppo- 
site the military plaza. The latter is one of the 
finest squares in Europe for military displays, 
comprising three hundred acres in the heart of 
the city. One side of it is occupied with exten- 
sive barracks. 

We leave Milan in the early morning, so as to 
enjoy a daylight view of the scenery of the Alps. 
We soon pass the frontier, catching a glimpse of 
the beautiful Lake Como ; and now begins the 
ascent, which soon brings us to the region of 
snow. We pass tlirough twenty-four small tun- 
nels on the Italian side and eighteen on the 
Swiss side, besides the main tunnel, which is 



New York to the Orient. 177 



nine and three- quarter miles long, and requires 
twenty minutes to pass tliroiigla. 

The crossing of the St. Gothard by means of 
these tunnels is a wonderful piece of engineer- 
ing. At one point on the Italian side the tunnel 
was excavated into the mountain in a spiral 
form on an up-grade, making the circuit by 
blasting through solid rock, and so coming out 
again almost directly over the point of entrance, 
the up-grade in making the circuit giving the 
elevation. This process is repeated three times^ 
and after the .third circuit is completed the rail- 
road and the mouths of the tunnels where the 
train entered the mountain are distinctly visible 
at three points below, one above the other, and a 
small village in the valley below comes in sight 
three times, and at the completion of each cir- 
cuit it looks more distant as a higher elevation 
is attained. 

The above is well illustrated by penetrating a 
cork with a corkscrew and cutting it in the mid- 
dle vertically. The road is splendidly built, and 
the trains are run w^ith the utmost care, and no 
serious accident has occurred on this line since 
it was opened. This route is more interesting, 
and affords a more picturesque view of the Aljos, 
than that by Mont Cenis tunnel. 



178 



New York to the Orient. 



Descending into Switzerland, we soon leave 
the region of snow, and in time reach Basle, 
where a good snpper awaits us, and a comfort- 
able compartment on the train for onr long 
night-ride to Paris. 



LETTER XVII. 



Palestine and Paris Contrasted — First Impression of the Latter 
City — An Art- Loving People — Moving the Statue of the 
Yenns de Milo — A Contrast in Steps — The Hotels of Paris — 
The Restaurants — Wine Consumption — The French Great 
Lovers of Amusement — Grand Opera House — The Art-Gal- 
leries and their Treasures — Various Points of Interest. 

Paris, February 25, 1886. 

BALESTINE and Paris. Type of the old ; 
symbol of the new. One the embodi- 
ment of the ideas and spirit of the oldest civili- 
zation ; the other the very home of modern 
aesthetic culture. One the storehouse of the 
methods adopted and results obtained two thou- 
sand years ago ; the other the receptacle of the 
rich fruits of the civilization of the nineteenth 
century. One inhabited by a people who live 
in tents as their fathers did, or in dwellings in 
the construction of which no innovation has been 
made in the lapse of twenty centuries ; the other 
luxuriating in homes that have not only required 
in their construction the utmost skill of cunning 

architects, the highest talent of a succession of 

179 



i8o New York to the Orient, 



skilful artists, and the combined efforts of a host 
of workmen, each gifted in his own specialty, 
but laying under contribution for its proper 
furnishing every country, civilized and uncivi- 
lized, in the four quarters of the globe. The 
sudden passing from one of these extreme civili- 
zations to the other serves to make a vivid 
impression upon the mind and materially to 
heighten the contrast. 

The earlier letters of this series have embodied 
the record of the impressions produced by our 
visit to Palestine. We have now to do with 
Paris, of which so much may be said that we 
are embarrassed to say fittingly the little we have 
to say. 

The first impression made upon the mind of 
the visitor here is that produced by the pre- 
valence of the sense of harmony and beauty 
that all classes seem to possess. The contrast 
in this regard with other nations is most marked. 
In Eastern countries not only are the higher 
considerations of art neglected, but all sanitary 
considerations are ignored ; the sewage is al- 
lowed to lie in the gutters on the surface of the 
streets, the manure is piled up in great heaps 
to lie festering in the sun, filling the air with 
pestilential odors, while there appears to be an 



New ' Yoi^k to the Orieiit. 1 8 1 

utter unconsciousness on the part of the people 
that anything is amiss. 

The contrast in this regard between Paris and 
the other great cities in civilized countries, while 
it may not be as sweeping, is yet very marked. 
This fine artistic taste and sense of harmony 
and beauty seems everywhere present in Paris. 
While it shows itself in a marked degree in the 
great art-galleries, it is plainly recognized in 
every department of construction. It is espe- 
cially noticeable in the construction of the cloth- 
ing of all classes, even of the servants. The 
washerwomen and the chambermaids have per- 
fect fitting waists. It seems as difficult to get 
a badly fitting garment here as it is elsewhere 
to procure a perfect fitting one. This fine artis- 
tic taste is nowhere more noticeable than in the 
architecture. 

Everything in Paris is pleasing and satisfy- 
ing, while in London, for instance, a nice sense 
of proportion and acute perception of beauty 
and harmony is violated by structures which 
meet the eye on every hand. The same is true 
of the carriages and furniture. John Bull is 
proverbially solid and substantial, and his car- 
riages and his furniture, and all his belongings, 
are like him — solid, heavy. But the element 



l82 



New York to the Orient. 



of beauty and gracefulness which the facile 
Frenchman, and the American, too, for that 
matter, would manage to combine with the 
substantial, is often lacking in the Englishman's 
result. This is true even of the cooking uten- 
sils. Those of the Englishman are tremendous- 
ly solid and useful, but quite devoid of grace- 
ful curves or artistic effects, while the same 
articles in the Frenchman's kitchen are so grace- 
ful and elegant that the very sight of them in- 
spires one with an appetite. 

There is some objection to the uniformity in 
the style of the buildings in the business blocks 
in Paris, but at the same time there is great 
advantage in it, as it serves to prevent the in- 
congruous results that would arise from follow- 
ing the plans prescribed by the architects, or 
the more crude fancies of the owners. The gene- 
ral excellence of the designs from which the 
public as well as the private buildings are con- 
structed, and the great attention given to art in 
every department, has reacted with most bene- 
ficial effect upon the common people. Indeed, 
very many of the latter are no mean judges of 
art. When a new public building is inaugu- 
rated, or work of art opened for exhibition, the 
people are present in great numbers, and their 



New York to the Orient. 183 



comments are often as judicious and apprecia- 
tive as tliose of persons who possess more knowl- 
edge in such matters. 

Any notable art event attracts universal at- 
tention. Not long since the famous statue, the 
Yenus de Milo, was moved from the position it 
had long occupied in the Louvre into another 
room and placed in a new light. The event 
stirred the whole of Paris. All classes came 
to see it in the new position and to criticise the 
change. Parisians of every degree, high and 
low, almost worship this statue, which, muti- 
lated as it is, is perhaps the most beautiful 
statue in the world. A proposition to purchase 
it for its weight in gold would be instantly 
and indignantly refused. The attempt to move 
this statue from Paris would create a revolu- 
tion. 

It is wonderful how little there is to offend 
the eye as one examines the buildings, monu- 
ments, and works of art here. Every flight of 
steps, indeed, every individual step, is in itself 
a work of art, ''a thing of beauty." To go up 
such a flight of stairs as may be met anywhere 
in Paris is no hardship, while to go down them 
is a positive luxury. In striking contrast with 
these is a flight of five steps at the JN'ew York 



184 New York to the Orient, 

terminus of our great Brooklyn bridge. I never 
go up or down those five narrow, abrupt steps 
without getting angry, and any Parisian archi- 
tect who could be guilty of producing such a 
flight of steps would hang himself from sheer 
mortification. 

There might be some excuse for such a result 
if the space was limited, but one can see no rea- 
son why the ascent should not be made by five 
or six wide, graceful steps instead of by the 
narrow, steep ones now in use ; and it would be 
a most encouraging sign if the people of I^ew 
York would demand the change of the bridge 
authorities, with such vehemence and persis- 
tence that they would be compelled to concede 
it. The great bridge itself is a work of such 
wonderful beauty tliat it seems like the crea- 
tion of a master, while some bungler has been 
entrusted with the construction of those five 
steps. 

But we must not forget that we are in Paris, 
not in New York. It is said that Parisians have 
no home life ; and the fact that they spend so 
much of their time in the restaurants and cafes 
would seem to indicate that there is some basis 
for the imputation. It is almost a necessity, 
however, with them to spend an hour or two 



New York to the Orient. 185 



after lunch and dinner at their favorite cafe, 
with their cigarette and coffee. Various grades 
of light amusements are furnished at many of 
the cafes. The restaurants are also a peculiar 
feature of Paris, and they are well patronized — 
so many, both residents and strangers, live in 
lodgings and take their meals at the most con- 
venient restaurants. 

The hotels are numerous and afford a wide 
range of choice. If one wishes to be near the 
centre of fashion he will choose a hotel in the 
vicinity of the Grand Opera House, where most 
of the first-class and expensive houses are situ- 
ated. There are many good houses in less cen- 
tral locations, which afford excellent accommo- 
dations at much less prices. We find such a 
house in the Hotel Britannique, Avenue Victoria. 
It is situated in a good location near Rue Rivoli, 
and not far from the Louvre, and is a clean, well 
kept, and comfortable house, with excellent 
table and moderate charges. 

Wine is the universal accompaniment of all 
meals in Paris, the coffee and roll taken on ris- 
ing being hardly considered a meal. Good claret 
may be obtained at a good price, but there is an 
immense amount of poor stuff consumed. It is 
computed that one hundred million gallons of 



i86 



New York to the Orient. 



wine are consumed annually in Paris. France is 
the home of the vine, and even now, though her 
vineyards have been terribly devastated by the 
phylloxera for a series of years, she still pro- 
duces some eight hundred million gallons of wine 
annually, most of which is consumed at home. 
There can be no reasonable doubt that the de- 
struction of the vineyards of France would be a 
national calamity, as the substitution of distilled 
liquors for the wines now consumed would tend 
to convert them from a nation of temperate peo- 
ple into a nation of drunkards. 

The French are proverbially an amusement- 
loving people, and the numerous theatres of 
Paris are all well patronized. The Grand Opera 
House is the most sumptuous theatre in the 
world, and probably the most costly. It occu- 
pies one of the most central and prominent 
squares in the city, and a large number of old 
buildings were demolished to make room for it. 
Indeed, many hundred buildings in the vicinity 
were swept away, and the streets and avenues 
reconstructed and studded with new buildings, 
made to harmonize with the architecture of the 
Opera House and give it a proper setting. 

A good illustration of the attention given to 
artistic effects in Paris is furnished by the fact 



New York to the Orient. 187 



that the principal avenue leading from the front 
of the Opera House was constructed without the 
trees that the original plan embraced, because 
they would obstruct the view and hide the 
grand proportions of the building as it is ap- 
proached by this avenue. 

Prominent among the points of interest for the 
visitor in Paris are the art-galleries. Those 
which are accessible to the public are so nume- 
rous and extensive that no satisfactory exami- 
nation can be made of their contents in any 
limited space of time. As in Rome even one 
who possesses culture and knowledge in mat- 
ters of art must spend a lifetime in order to 
begin to comprehend its treasures, so in Paris 
one without such special culture and knowledge 
is still more at a loss to comprehend the great 
works that meet his gaze on every hand, much 
less to write intelligently about them. It is said 
that there is a larger number of private collec- 
tions of valuable works of art in Paris than in 
any other city in the world. 

There are so many points of interest here that 
one is at a loss to know where to begin, especial- 
ly as the brief space of a single letter affords so 
little opportunities for e:^tended description or 
comment. 



1 88 New York to the Orient. 



Tlie streets, boulevards, and public squares 
are admirably planned and constructed, and 
with many of them are associated numerous 
historical incidents of great interest and im- 
portance. 

The Place de la Concorde is the most exten- 
sive and beautiful of the promenades in Paris, 
and is ripe in historical associations. It w^as here 
that the guillotine commenced its bloody work, 
claiming among its first victims Louis XVI., 
Charlotte Corday, and Marie Antoinette. Dur- 
ing the Reign of Terror thus inaugurated some 
three thousand lives were sacrificed in the space 
of about two years. 

The Place de la Concorde and the Champs 
Ely sees form one grand avenue several hun- 
dred feet wide, studded with several rows of 
trees, and flanked with splendid residences, 
and most appropriately terminating with the 
Arc de Triomphe, constituting one of the most 
charming promenades in the world. The Trium- 
phal Arch is the grandest structure of this de- 
scription in the world, and the view of Paris 
and vicinity from its summit is yery fine. 

From this point a series of grand avenues radi- 
ate to different parts of Paiis, We will take 
the one leading to the Bois de Boulogne. This 



Neiv York to the Orient, 189 



was formerly a grand hunting-ground, and was 
frequented by duelists and bandits, but is now a 
large and magnificent park supported by the city. 

Among the points of interest visited in and 
around this charming city we note the following 
as especially worthy of attention : 

The Invalides, an institution established by 
the government as a home for disabled soldiers. 
The buildings are very extensive, but the main 
point of attraction is the grand gilded dome, a 
conspicuous object from every part of Paris, 
under which is the sei)ulchre of Napoleon I., 
a simple but most artistic and impressive monu- 
ment, and cherished by the French people with 
great veneration. 

The Louvre, with its interminable galleries 
filled with priceless treasures of art. 

The Palais Royal, built early in the seven- 
teenth century by Cardinal Richelieu as a re- 
sidence for himself. 

The Tuileries, one of the largest and grandest 
royal residences ever constructed, devastated by 
an armed mob during the French Revolution, and 
again by the Communists in 1871. 

The Bastille, in whose dreary dungeons so 
many sons of France have languished in hope- 
less confinement. 



IQO New York to the Orient. 

Pere La Chaise, tlie favorite burial-place of the 
Parisian. 

Jardin des Plantes, with its extensive zoologi- 
cal museum, its valuable library of books and 
MSS. on natural history, and its unrivalled 
botanical collection. 

The Gobelins, the government manufactory of 
the celebrated Gobelins tapestry, where many 
completed pieces of the production of these looms 
may be seen, as well as the actual process of 
producing them; one of the most interesting 
places in Paris. 

The Pantheon, originally a temple devoted to 
the heroes and patriots of France, many of whom 
are buried within its walls, but now most inap- 
propriately used as a church. 

Notre Dame, one of the finest Gothic churches 
in Europe. 

The Madeleine, a most imposing church build- 
ing surrounded by massive columns, said to have 
been modelled after a Grecian temple, and at one 
time dedicated by Napoleon as a temple of glory. 

The Catacombs, excavated during the Roman 
period to procure building stone, afterwards 
used as a receptacle for the dead. 

St. Cloud, in the environs of the city, the 
favorite summer residence of Napoleon III. 



New Yo7^k to the Orient, 191 



Fontainebleaii, with its old palace, so rich with 
historical associations, occupied successively by 
Henry IV., Louis XV. , and Napoleon I. 

St. Denis, where so many of the old monarchs 
of France are entombed. 

Montmorency, noted for its having been one of 
the residences of Rousseau. 

Sevres, celebrated for its government manu- 
factory of fine porcelain. 

Versailles, with its unrivalled fountains, fa- 
mous palaces, with miles and miles of galleries 
filled with a bewildering mass of paintings and 
statuary. 

Realizing how much that would prove inter- 
esting might be said by one visiting Paris with 
his eyes and ears open, with plenty of time at 
his disposal, and regretting that we have been 
able to say so little in the space of a single letter, 
we take leave of the gay capital. 



LETTER XVIII. 



Paris to London — Poor Railway Accommodations — Old London 
— Devastated by Fires, Pestilences, and Civil Wars — The 
Original City One Square Mile — Fragments of the Old Wall 
still Standing — Official Integrity — No Broadway Railroad 
Steal Possible here— Adhering to Old Methods — National 
Conceit — Antiquated Railroad Methods — Expressage Pecu- 
liarities — Underground, Surface, and Elevated or Upper 
Level Railroads — Ancient Guilds — Home Rule for Ireland 
— A London Banquet. 



same length which is more dreaded by 
travellers than that between the two great capi- 
tals, Paris and London, where more discomforts 
are encountered and less accommodations are af- 
forded than on any route of the same length in 
any country in the world which claims to furnish 
travellers the best railroad and steamboat facili- 
ties. On leaving Paris, although bearing first- 
class tickets, we are shut up in pens — called 
compartments — which are devoid of all those 
conveniences that the most ordinary cars have 
everywhere in America ; and, after running the 
gauntlet of the terrible Channel, we find a du- 




LoNDON, February 30, 1886. 

T would be difiicult to find a journey of the 



192 



New York to the Orient, 193 



plicate of the French, train we left an hour be- 
fore awaiting ns on the English side of the 
Channel, by which we complete the journey. 

As we approach and enter the great city there 
can be no question as to its identity. It is un- 
mistakably London. We are reminded of the 
description a young American woman once gave 
of the city, as she passed through on the ele- 
vated railroad, that ''London consists chiefly 
of fog and smoke and chimney-pots." Coming, 
as we have, from the almost tropical climate of 
Palestine and Egypt, it seems especially cold and 
damp and forbidding here. But this is the sea- 
son of the chilly east winds, and, no doubt, a 
change for the better may soon be looked for. 

London has a well-defined history, extending 
over a period of several centuries. Back of the 
Roman invasion and settlement it was a mere 
village, a group of huts, but early in the Chris- 
tian era it began to crystallize into a settlement 
of some importance, and at a very early period 
to show tokens of its future greatness. Some of 
the leading points of old London have a history 
reaching back to the ninth century, such as the 
Tower, St. Paul's Cathedral, and Westminster 
Abbey. 

During the early history of the city, for seve- 



194 New York to the Orient. 



ral centuries, its slow but sure growth was often 
interrupted by devastating fires, pestilences, and 
civil wars. The terrible plague of 1664, which 
swept away one hundred thousand of the in- 
habitants, followed in 1666 by the great fire, 
which consumed some thirteen thousand dwell- 
ings, almost swept the city out of existence. 
But during the eighteenth century it recovered 
completely from these disasters and entered upon 
its wonderful career of future greatness. 

The original city was comprised within the 
limits of one square mile, and its boundaries are 
still indicated here and there by fragments of 
the old wall which encompassed it. At the be- 
ginning of the eighteenth century the popula- 
tion was considerably less than one million. 
Now the square mile has expanded into more 
than two hundred and the population has swol- 
len to the enormous aggregate of five millions, 
constituting it, beyond question, the largest city 
in the world. 

Since the opening of the present century many 
important improvements and public works have 
been projected and completed under the super- 
intendence of a body known as the Metropolitan 
Board of Works. The drainage of the city for- 
merly passed into the Thames, which runs di- 



New York to the Orient, 195 



rectl}^ tlirougli it, and which thus became so 
polluted as to seriously endanger the public 
health. Since 1880 the Board have completed, 
at an enormous expense to the city, a system of 
sewerage connected with immense tunnels laid 
parallel with the Thames, which carries the sew- 
age fourteen miles below the city, and pours it 
into the river at that point. But the city has 
extended with such rapid strides that this point 
is now within its limits and the old difficulty re- 
curs again, and the water of the river is still pol- 
luted to an extent which endangers the health 
of the citizens. 

An ingenious and novel plan has been perfect- 
ed by Mr. J. M. Hart, a member of the present 
city council, for remedying the evil, and con- 
tracts are about to be given out to carry it into 
execution. The plan involves the construction 
of several immense pontoon-boats, which shall 
receive the entire contents of the sewers of the 
city, transport it out to sea, and deposit it be- 
yond a point where its presence can in any way 
endanger the public health. 

The manner in which the citizens sustain the 
authorities in matters of public moment i§ most 
admirable, and the interest they take in the pro- 
gress of improvements for the benefit of the city 



196 



New York to the Orient. 



lias tlie effect of insuring faithful work and hon- 
esty of administration. Such an episode as the 
Broadway Railroad steal could hardly occur in 
London. Citizens accept office here and fill im- 
portant public positions for the honor attached 
to such service, not for the purpose of ''feath- 
ering their own nest," as is too often the case in 
America. The members of Parliament draw no 
salary, and there is no opportunity of ''making 
money" out of the position. It would not do 
to say that there are no dishonest men in Lon- 
don, but it is quite evident that the standard of 
integrity is higher among officials here, and es- 
pecially among those connected with the muni- 
cipal government, than in our own country. 

It is beautiful to gain a standpoint from which 
one can observe the excellencies or the faults of 
his own or another country without prejudice 
in favor of the one or against the other, and it 
is a sign of healthy growth when a people can 
bear to have the truth told them in regard to 
their shortcomings, and, at the same time, not 
"fall from grace'' and lose their serenity of 
temper. The American people were very restive 
under the adverse criticisms recorded of them in 
the "American Notes," by Dickens, the result 
of his visit to our country some quarter of a 



Nezv York to the Orient. 197 



century ago ; but it is to be hoped, at least, that 
they have so far outgrown their childish sensi- 
tiveness that tiiey could now receive a like re- 
buke for their foibles with sweetness and seren- 
ity, even though couched in language somewhat 
exaggerated and severe, and we feel entirely sure 
that John Bull will not wince in the least at any 
adverse criticisms we may be moved to make of 
his peculiarities or methods. 

While there is much that is admirable and 
worthy of imitation here, there are many points 
in which the Englishman is behind his more en- 
terprising neighbors on the other side of the At- 
lantic. One of the most marked characteristics 
of the Englishman is the tenacity with which he 
adheres to old methods, and his disinclination 
to change even when it is quite evident to every- 
body else, and one is tempted to think to him- 
self too, that he is quite behind the age, and that 
the adoption of the new methods would prove a 
great saving of time and labor. 

The characteristic Englishman cannot see that 
everything English is not the best. A given ap- 
pliance or method has been used for a hundred 
years and answered the purpose, therefore it 
must be used for the next hundred, and no in- 
novation, claiming to be an improvement, can 



198 New York to the Orient, 

replace it. Indeed, lie will not admit tliat any 
valuable invention has ever been made outside 
of liis own country, and especially in a new 
country like the United States. He will tell you 
gravely that the original idea of every improve- 
ment or innovation made in our country came 
from the Old World, and generally from Eng- 
land. 

The national conceit of the Englishman of this 
class is something inconceivable. Indeed, this 
peculiarly strong innate sense of his own supe- 
riority is so marked that he can readily be dis- 
tinguished from Lis fellow-travellers in any part 
of the world by his bearing, and especially by 
his speech. 

A good illustration of the peculiar methods 
which obtain here, in contrast with those in vogue 
in our own and other countries, is furnished by 
the construction, equipment, and management 
of the railroads. This contrast is most striking 
in the construction of the cars, the management 
of the baggage of passengers, and the manner 
in which the express business is done on the 
different roads. The cars are all of one pattern, 
the most luxurious and the most common. They 
are all constructed in compartments, each com- 
partment accommodating eight people, facing 



New York to the Orient. 199 



each other, like an old-fashioned stage-coach. 
There are several such compartments on each 
set of trucks, the entrance being on the side, 
and there is no communication with any other 
part of the train. 

There is a total absence of those toilet arrange- 
ments which conduce so much to the comfort 
and convenience of the traveller. Of course the 
passenger cannot have his baggage checked, and 
he must observe where it is placed, and he tra- 
vels under constant apprehension of its loss; and 
if it is lost he is comforted with the assurance of 
the railroad officials that they will find it for him 
if they can. He is unable to produce the little 
brass check and demand the baggage or its 
equivalent. Doubtless it will take our dear old 
John Bull railroad director another score or two 
of years to see that by the check system lie 
would be protected as well as the traveller, as 
he could then never deliver the baggage to the 
wrong person. He acknowledges that he is now 
very much annoyed by such wrong delivery, 
but has never devised any remedy, and, with 
the best remedy at hand in the American check- 
system, he shuts his eyes and plods along in 
the old ways. 

Another peculiarity here is the manner in 



200 New York to the Orient. 



wliicli the express business is done. Each road 
has its own ''parcels department," which does 
a business on its own line quite like that done 
by our express companies in America. Mr. Hart, 
the passenger agent of the Great Western Rail- 
way, to whom I had an introduction, politely ex- 
plained to me the working of the parcels depart- 
ment of that mammoth corporation. Although 
it comes under Mr. Hart's supervision as passen- 
ger agent, this department is apparently as com- 
pletely organized in everj^ detail as our own great 
express companies, and the charges are more 
moderate than with us. They have an insur- 
ance department attached, so that one can in- 
sure the goods transmitted at the same time 
they are deposited with the company. I am 
indebted to Mr. Hart for much information in 
regard to the workings of this road. He is a 
very polite and cosmopolitan gentleman, and 
is much more liberal and progressive than the 
board of directors by whom he is controlled. 

The network of railroads within the city limits, 
consisting of underground, surface, and elevated 
roads, is very extensive and complete. The lat- 
ter are here called ''upper level" roads. Be- 
tween the bad air in the close compartments and 
the gas from the engines, travelling by these 



New York to the Orient, 



20I 



roads is very disagreeable and unliealtliy ; but 
liiindreds of thousands are compelled to spend 
tlie best part of an hour every day in this viti- 
ated atmosphere, greatly to their discomfort. 

A marked feature here is the guilds, or city 
companies, of which there are about eighty in 
all, most of them very ancient, and several very 
wealthy, possessing vast estates. Some of them 
own immense properties in Ireland, and just 
afc this moment there is a move to sell these 
Irish estates to the tenants, who have occupied 
them for many years. By the terms proposed 
ample time is given the purchasers, and every 
opportunity is afforded for them to become pos- 
sessors of the soil ; and it would seem that the 
successful adoption of the plan would form the 
best solution of the vexed problem of home rule 
in Ireland. 

Some of these companies are very wealthy and 
influential, as the mercers, the fishmongers, the 
grocers, the ironmongers, the vintners, etc. ; while 
others have no possessions, not even a hall in 
which to hold their annual meetings. My host 
here, being a member of one of these, has 
secured for me a ticket to their annual ban- 
quet. It is called the Fan-Makers Company. 
The Mercers Company most hospitably ten- 



202 



New York to the Orient. 



dered tliem the use of their magnificent hall 
for the banquet. The members of the com- 
pany, including a few invited guests, occupy 
the two hundred seats at the tables, every seat 
having been previously assigned to the occupant, 
and his name placed on the plate. The dinner is 
one of the kind in which the Englishman de- 
lights — '^a big feed," as he designates it. It is 
a very dignified and formal affair. Every toast 
is ''cut and dried," and some special individual 
is designated to respond to each in a speech 
which is evidently ''cut and dried" also. Hence 
there is very little of that spontaneity which is 
the life of such an occasion, and I am not sorry 
to leave with my friend before the feast is con- 
cluded, to seek one more night's rest previous 
to encountering the perils of the last stage of 
our homeward journey. 



LETTER XIX. 



Leaving London for New York — Homeward Bound on the Ill- 
fated Oregon — A Faithful, Accurate, and Graphic Descrip- 
tion of the Fearful Disaster — Behavior of the Officers and 
Crew — Heroism of the Passengers — On the Verge of Eter- 
nity — A Fortunate Escape — The Combination of Favor- 
able Circumstances which Resulted in the Saving of Every 
Soul on Board. 

New York, March 20, 1886. 

AVINGr procured a state-room in the 
Oregon^ of the Cunard line, for myself 
and my wife, who has been my travelling com- 
panion in the journey I have endeavored to de- 
scribe, we gladly leave the damp and chilly at- 
mosphere of London and spend one night in 
Liverpool previous to embarking upon the peril- 
ous voyage that is to become a notable event in 
our lives. 

We go on board promptly at ten a.m. on Satur- 
day, March 6, anticipating a rapid and safe pas- 
sage to our home. Leaving Queenstown on Sun- 
day at two P.M., after receiving about six hun- 
dred bags of mail which has come from London 
by rail, we plunge at once into the broad Atlan- 
tic to meet, at the very outset, a storm of con- 

203 




204 



New York to the Orient. 



siderable force. The wonderful speed of the 
Oregon is well illustrated by the fact that she 
rapidly passed the Arizona^ which left Queens- 
town half an hour previously. Having crossed 
the Atlantic in the Arizona on her first voyage 
East, I well remember that she made the quickest 
passage that had been accomplished up to that 
date — seven days, ten hours, and fifty-six min- 
utes from Sandy Hook to Queenstown. JN'ow the 
Oregon has beaten this record by more than a 
whole day. 

As the first part of the passage furnishes little 
of interest beyond the ordinary routine of events 
which daily transpire upon an ocean voyage, I 
propose to devote this letter to a description of 
the scenes accompanying the loss of the noble 
steamer that was bearing us so rapidly towards 
our home. 

There seems to have been an unusual anxiety 
on the part of the Americans aboard to reach 
their native land. One man, having the appear- 
ance of a tiller of the soil, remarked : ''I would 
rather possess one acre of American soil than 
the whole of the Atlantic Ocean." The week 
passed rapidly away, and we retired to our 
state-rooms on Saturday evening, eagerly anti- 
cipating the coveted view of our native shore 



New York to the Orient, 205 



on rising tlie following morning, little dream- 
ing of the terrible dramatic scenes in which we 
were about to participate. 

As somewhat diverse statements have been 
given to the public of the scenes that were en- 
acted on board the steamer after the collision, I 
propose to describe such of these scenes as passed 
under my own eye with truthful accuracy. In re- 
cording the conduct of the officers and crew I 
shall endeavor to remember the peculiarly try- 
ing conditions under w^hich they acted, and to 
give them all the credit they deserve. At the 
same time it is due to the passengers of the ill- 
fated vessel, as well as to the public, that any 
loss of self-control or dereliction in the perfor- 
mance of their duty should be faithfully noted. 

On Sunday morning, March 14, as we were 
lying in our berths conversing, having been 
awakened by the noise produced by the hoist- 
ing of the mail-bags from the hold, we heard a 
sudden crash which we thought was produced 
by the breaking of the steel wire cable, by which 
the mails were being raised, and the falling upon 
the deck of the tackle which it sustained. We 
at once rose and commenced dressing, and in a 
moment were startled by a loud rap upon the 
door, and a request to dress ourselves imme- 



2o6 New York to the Orient. 



diately and come on deck as soon as possible. 
I opened tlie door suddenly, and the electric 
light revealed the terror-stricken face of our 
state-room steward. 

By this time all was confusion overhead. The 
unusual stir and the rushing of hurried footsteps 
on the deck told us that something serious had 
happened. The deck was soon crowded with the 
frightened passengers, but they could find out 
nothing definite about the accident, and we were 
all told to go below and finish dressing ; that 
a serious accident had occurred, but that there 
was no immediate danger. Somewhat reassured, 
many went below, but it very soon transpired 
that there had been a collision, and that the 
steamer was sinking, and by this time she was 
careened somewhat, w^hich added to the alarm of 
the passengers. 

Up to this moment most of the passengers had 
only a confused idea that something had hap- 
pened, as the officers and crew would give no 
satisfactory answers to their anxious inquiries. 
But now that they knew the steamer was rapid- 
ly sinking, and heard the order given to launch 
and man the boats, they fully realized their 
danger. 

The scene was most intensely thrilling and 



New York to the Orient. 207 



dramatic. Nearly all of the nine hundred peo- 
ple on board were on the main deck, all ap- 
parently realizing their extreme peril, and ready 
to avail themselves of any opportunity which 
might be presented to escape with their lives. 
As I witnessed the scene at that moment, and 
as I look back upon it at this distance, the calm- 
ness and self-possession of those people seem 
wonderful. I refer especially to the cabin pas- 
sengers, who composed the group immediately 
around me. Their conduct was such as to en- 
hance one's estimate of human nature. 

Nearly all were calm and deliberate, and faced 
the danger resolutely. The effect produced upon 
the more excitable natures (of which the writer is 
a type) was noticeable. The extreme danger had 
the effect to calm and steady rather than excite 
these natures. Indeed, among the first cabin 
passengers there was very little of that boister- 
ous excitement which is supposed to be inspired 
by such a terrible disaster. There was no loss 
of self-possession, no frantic shouting, no hys- 
terical praying. 

The conduct of the women was admirable. 
One delicate invalid, who looked so pale and 
shadowy that it seemed doubtful if she could 
live to reach her home, seemed inspired with 



208 



New York to the Orient. 



new life by tlie disaster, and as we met lier 
again on the Fulda slie was like another be- 
ing. Her whole frame seemed quivering with 
fresli vital currents that had flowed into her 
during these eventful hours. 

An elderly woman, who was taken from her 
husband and transferred to the pilot-boat in one 
of the first boat-loads, seemed especially calm 
and self-possessed, and inspired a whole group 
of women around her with the same feeling. It 
is said that w^omen are calmer than men in the 
presence of a great danger, and from what I saw 
of the bearing of both on this occasion I believe 
it to be true. 

When the first boat-loads of passengers were 
taken from the steamer to the pilot-boat the 
officers had pretty good control, and few except 
women and children were taken ; but they soon 
lost control in a great degree, and the boats, one 
after another as they came up, were immediately 
filled with the firemen and more able-bodied and 
aggressive of the passengers. 

The chairman of the board of directors of the 
Cunard line stated, at a meeting of the stock- 
holders just after the Oregon disaster occurred, 
that the discipline on the steamer was magnifi- 
cent, and declared that only seven of the firemen 



New York to the Orient, 209 



jumped into the boats, etc. I was present and 
saw just wliat did occur, and am sorry not to 
agree with him as to the discipline, and my own 
experience is the best answer to the statement 
about the firemen. Soon after the first boat- 
loads left the steamer, which were composed of 
women and children, the firemen and the more 
turbulent and muscular of the passengers took 
possession of each boat and filled it so quickly 
and with such a rush that I, and others like me, 
stood no chance whatever, being past the meri- 
dian of strength and vigor, and not possessing 
that kind of aggressiveness required to compete 
with such elements. 

The j)ilot-boat, which first came upon the scene, 
was soon filled, mainly with women and children, 
who were transferred to her by the steamer's 
boats, and the Stanley A, Oorham, a larger 
schooner, which came up shortly after, was filled 
in the same manner. During all this time the 
Oregon was gradually sinking, and the situation 
of those remaining on board of her had become 
extremely critical. The two schooners had been 
filled so full that the ofiicers did not dare to re- 
ceive any more, and all the boats were also filled 
and fioating round. Then no small boats re- 
turned for more of the remaining passengers for 



210 New Yoi^k to the Orient. 



about an hour. Meantime the water was creep- 
ing up the sides of the steamer with ominous 
rapidity. 

There were now about one hundred persons 
left aboard, the most of whom seemed to me to 
be passengers. The steamer was settling lower 
and lower each minute, the prow being consid- 
erably lower than the stern, and it seemed that 
each moment must be the last. We could al- 
most feel the last convulsive quiver preparatory 
to the final plunge. We all had on life-preservers, 
and the ofiicers, too, as they walked the bridge 
at this moment, and for some tirne previously, 
had their life-preservers strapped around them, 
telling the passengers as plainly as possible that 
the danger was most imminent. Our loved ones 
had been torn away from us and were floating 
around in some of the crafts that promised more 
safety than the doomed steamer, and God only 
knew whether we should ever meet them again 
on this side of the dark river. Not a word was 
spoken. Any unseemly demonstration was im- 
possible, for we were face to face with eter- 
nity. 

We had to endure this strain for nearly an 
hour, while no boats were returning to the 
steamer. Finally we saw two boats approach- 



New York to the Orient, 2 1 1 



ing in tlie distance, a large and a small one, and 
tliey came up nearly simultaneously. The large 
one was filled first in almost an instant and 
rowed away. As the small boat floated past the 
point where I stood I jumped in, completing the 
load of eight passengers, which was the limit of 
her capacity. The revulsion of feeling at this 
moment was most marked, from the uncertain 
foothold on the deck of the sinking steamer to 
the welcome boards of the small boat Avhich had 
hope in them. As we rowed away we saw other 
small boats, that had contrived to deposit their 
loads somewhere, returning to rescue the few 
passengers remaining on board, and in a few 
minutes we were taken on board the pilot-boat, 
where I joined my wife. 

After all the passengers and crew had left the 
steamer, the captain, the doctor, and the car- 
penter being the very last, and all were con- 
tained in the two schooners, which were heavily 
loaded, and the small boats which were filled, or 
partially filled, the steamer Fulda^ of the ]N"orth 
German Lloyds line, hove in sight, and, having 
seen our signals of distress, came promptly to 
our relief. The feelings of gratitude and joy 
with which we greeted this good Samaritan of 
the sea can only be imagined by those who 



212 New York to the Orient. 



were not there to be rescued. Nothing could be 
more beautiful than her great black hull as she 
steamed into the midst of that group, composed 
of the sinking Oregon^ the two schooners, whose 
decks were black with people, and the small 
boats, also filled and floating around within the 
radius of a mile. 

In a few minutes more the noble Oregon^ 
which had borne us so swiftly to the very 
threshold of our homes, gave the final plunge, 
lifting her stern fifty or sixty feet into the air, 
and settled into her watery grave. Among the 
group in which I stood on the deck of the pilot- 
boat were strong men who turned their backs 
upon this scene and wept. 

The work of transferring to the Fulda soon 
commenced, and in a very short time every one 
of the nine hundred safely reached her hospit- 
able deck. Here we met with a reception we 
can never forget. We were literally fed and 
clothed and housed, for every want was sup- 
plied. If we had been brothers and sisters re- 
turning from our wanderings after long years of 
absence we could not have been more lovingly 
greeted or more tenderly cared for. Although 
the Fulda is much smaller than the Oregon^ she 
added nine hundred people to her own crew and 



New York to the Orient, 



213 



passengers, and everything proceeded with the 
ntmost regularity and order. To their credit 
be it said that the managers of this line would 
take nothing from the passengers or present 
any bill to the Cunard line. It was a matter of 
bumanitj^, not of dollars and cents. I feel — and 
am sure the Oregon passengers all do — that if I 
ever cross the Atlantic again I shall w^ant to go 
by the Fulda^ or at least by some steamer of 
that line. I should trust myself to the Fulda 
as to an old and valued friend. 

One of the most remarkable features of this 
day's experience was tlie banishment of the sor- 
did and selfish from all these people. The un- 
selfish and loving spirit that pervaded the Fulda 
was so sensed by the Oregon passengers that 
many men and women wept as they climbed up 
her sides and met the w^elcome extended to them. 
During this whole day, from the moment of the 
collision until they retired on board the Fulda 
not one of those two hundred cabin passengers 
showed by word or look that they regretted the 
loss of their personal effects. Under the inspi- 
ration of the terror produced by the imminent 
danger to which they were exposed, and the 
gratitude they felt on being rescued, the sor- 
did feeling was held in abeyance for one whole 



214 



New York to the Orient, 



day. This was the most beautiful thing I ever 
beheld. 

But the charm was broken the next morning 
ivhen the old sordid sphere returned to some 
of the women sitting opposite to us at the break- 
fast-table, who were regretting the loss of their 
diamonds and jewelry, their splendid dresses 
and beautiful laces which they had bought in 
Paris. I must say I was ungallant enough to 
entertain, temporarily, a strong desire to pull 
their ears. We hope that we shall not live long 
enough to begin to regret our losses. AVhile 
the experience is not one we should covet the 
repetition of, having acquired it, no estimate can 
be placed upon its value. 

The d^y was filled with incidents of thrilling 
interest. The impending danger served to de- 
velop the best and the worst in those whose 
lives were imperilled. A venerable judge of 
the Supreme Court of the United States from a 
Western State, whose whole face and mien be- 
tokened a high type of man, said to a young 
man standing near, as he was offered a place in 
a boat about to leave the steamer: ''You go ; 
you are a young man with life before you. I 
am most through." On the other hand, the 
coal-heavers rushed in and seized the boats, 



New York to the Orient. 215 



crowding back weaker men, and even women 
and cliildren. 

In one of the boats whicli was over- crowded, 
the men threatened to throw overboard some of 
the passengers, and were only restrained from 
carrying their threat into execution and inspired 
with renewed vigor in rowing, by the promise of 
$500 from a California man if they would put 
him on the schooner. 

The parting of husbands and wives as they 
were torn asunder when the women left in the 
first boats, and their meeting again after ago- 
nizing hours of separation, was wonderfully ex- 
citing and thrilling. Among the group of women 
on the pilot-boat, as they sat in the cabin await- 
ing the arrival of their husbands, was a poor 
little waif of a baby who had got separated from 
its mother. But the poor little creature received 
the tenderest care possible till he was restored 
to the arms of the distracted mother on the 
Fulda, 

Many incidents of great interest transpired on 
the Fiilda. All hearts were inspired with grati- 
tude, and many embraced and kissed each other 
in their exuberance of feeling. Indeed, it seemed 
like one great love-feast. 

There seems to be considerable question in 



2i6 New York to the Orient. 



the public mind as to whether the best course 
was pursued by the officers of the Oregon after 
the collision. Very soon after the accident I 
distinctly saw the heights on the Long Island 
shore, but when the vessel sank land was no- 
where to be seen. From all I could observe it 
was quite evident the captain expected that 
the water-tight compartments would sustain the 
vessel ; and I know he watched very eagerly 
for some steamer to come and tow her into 
port. But it seems to me he made a great 
mistake in not availing himself of all the means 
in his power to gain a point where he could 
beach her, (This he well knew meant her de- 
struction.) It seemed as though the momentum 
and the remaining steam would have enabled 
Mm to accomplish this. The chief engineer of 
the Oregon told me in a conversation on the 
Fulda^ that when he was forced to leave his 
post he left the steam on, and that the engine 
ran two hours from that time, slowing down 
gradually, so that there was nearly or quite 
three hours of steaming after the collision. It 
is claimed that he lost the momentum in turning 
the vessel round to look for the crew of the col- 
liding schooner ; but after all it is a serious 
question whether he was not too anxious to 



Nezv York to the Orie^it, 217 



save the vessel, and so too little regardful of the 
lives of the passengers. To be sure the precious 
lives were all saved, but I submit that it was not 
so much due to the presence of mind and the 
care and skill of the officers, as to the following 
favoring conditions : 

First — There were eight hours and a quarter 
between the collision and the sinking. 

Second — It was daylight. 

Third — The sea was comparatively calm. 

Fourth — The pilot-boat came up just in sea- 
son to receive the first boat-loads of passengers. 

Fifth — The schooner Stanley A. GorJiam ap- 
peared upon the scene just at the right moment, 
after the pilot-boat was filled, to receive a still 
larger number of passengers. 

Sixth — After all the passengers and crew were 
taken from the Oregon^ and the two schooners 
and all the small boats were filled with them — 
showing most conclusively that the boats of the 
Oregon were entirely insufficient — the Fulda 
hove in sight and steamed into the midst of 
the group, and took on board every one of 'the 
nine hundred who had left the sinking ship. 

If any of these favorable conditions had been 
missing there would have been a terrible loss of 
life. It is difficult to discover any reason why 



2i8 New York to the Orient. 



an earnest attempt should not have been made 
to beach the vessel, for even in case of failure 
to accomplish it, we should have been nearer the 
shore and in shallower water ; and if she had 
been successfully beached there was no reason 
w^hy the passengers and crew could not have 
been saved by the small boats and the schooners 
in exactly the way they were saved further out 
to sea. 

On landing at Hoboken the following morn- 
ing, the Oregon passengers were accorded the 
first riglit of way ; and a motley-looking pro- 
cession they were as they filed off in their varie- 
gated and miscellaneous garb. They did not 
experience the least embarrassment in passing 
their baggage through the hands of the custom- 
house officers, and soon found themselves in the 
arms of their anxious friends, who gathered 
them to their hearts with an especial tender- 
ness. 



BROTHERHOOD WINES. 



The earnest effort in the direction of Pure Wines inaugurated 
by the Brotherhood some twenty years ago is now meeting its 
appropriate reward. Thousands of families throughout the 
country use them exclusively, having learned that they can 
depend upon their purity. 

The eminent scientist, Baron Liebig, says, concerning pure 
wine, such as the Brotherhood wines are, that — **As a means 
of refreshment when the faculties of life are exhausted, to 
regulate and adjust when disproportion in the nourishment and 
disturbance in the organism have taken place, and as a defence 
against transitional molestations called for by disregarding na- 
ture, it is not surpassed by nature or art." 

We now ship to all our customers throughout the country 
direct from our vineyards at Washingtonville, Orange County, 
N. Y., except those in New York City and vicinity, who are 
supplied from our depot at 111 Nassau Street, New York. 



We have also made arrangements to supply our customers 
with a superior article of OLIVE OIL, made in Palestine, which 
is pronounced unequalled by those who have used it. 

Send for price list. 

Address 

J. M. EMERSON & SON, 



in NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK. 

3 



lEW YORK TO THE ORIEIT. 

Cloth Binding, $1 ; Paper, so CENxa 



LIBRARY OF CONGRES^^ 



019 546 043 r 



